Ririkaru Ranma
by Ryo-Wolf
Summary: Genma decides to go to China early, leaving Ranma cursed at the tender age of 6. 3 years later, they find themselves in Uminari City, where a twist of fate results in Ranma attending grade school as a girl...and fighting the forces of evil.
1. Standby Ready

Insert standard disclaimer here. You know how it goes. We do not own the characters involved, they belong to the creators we so lovingly stole them from.

Here it is again, now revised to remove and change several things we felt were terrible the first time around. This time, it should be a lot better, and more in character.

However, I do feel the need to make an announcement to the readers who are the type that despise 'Ranma goes all girl' fics. Go get a sandwich and find something else to read, cause this fic is not for you. Ranma doesn't go all girl here, but he does become equally comfortable in either form, and spends an awful lot of his time in girl form. If you don't like the sound of that, you won't enjoy this fic, so you might as well save yourself some time.

So, without further ado,

Mahou Shoujo Ririkaru Ranma...Hajimarimasu.

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"Damn you Saotome!" Yelled a large man as he sprinted after a quickly rolling yatai. "How could you betray me like this!"

"Sorry Kuonji, but I can't take some sickly girl on this kind of journey, she'd only get in the way." The bald man pulling the cart stated, trying his best to accelerate him and the cart away from his pursuer. "By the way, thanks for the yatai. It'll really come in handy!"

"Damn it Saotome! Get back here!" The chasing okonomiyaki chef demanded. On top of the cart a six year old boy waved at the man chasing, an innocent smile adorning his face.

"Bye Mr. Kuonji! It was fun!" The boy exclaimed, sticking out his tongue at the chef. The man only growled and continued his running, but soon realized the distance between him and his target was growing greater. Damn, that Saotome was really good at running.

"I'm gonna kill you! When I get my hands on you, Saotome, I'm gonna carve your eyes out with my rusty spatulas! Do you hear me? I'm gonna shove a burner up your ass and raw batter down your throat and use your stomach as my new grill!" He yelled, before he slowed down to a stop. He couldn't chase after the man forever, after all, he had a sick daughter that needed his support. That was far more important. Though he did make a mental note to write those threats down when he got back. Didn't want to forget his promises, unlike some people.

Speaking of some people, Genma Saotome grinned when he realized he was no longer being chased. Always a good sign when someone gave up after they had lost. Now all that was left was to escape to someplace where he couldn't easily be found...just in case.

"Why did Mr. Kuonji sound so angry?" Ranma asked from the top of the cart, looking over the side at his father. Genma just laughed nervously, still running with the cart.

"No reason, boy! He was just playing around!" He replied. At least, Genma hoped he was playing around. A mental image of the Kuonji man standing over his torn open corpse, cooking okonomiyaki on his innards suddenly popped into his head, though he quickly shook that thought off.

"Say, boy, how does the beach sound to you? We can get lots of training by swimming!" Genma said, leaving out the 'all the way to china' part. He doubted Kuonji was that determined. He probably wouldn't get very far with that sickly daughter of his anyway.

"Sure thing, pop!" Ranma replied, before turning his head back the way they came. He briefly wondered what his new friend Ucchan was doing, just before his house disappeared behind a hill.

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Ririkaru Ranma

by

JSB & Ryo-Wolf

Chapter 1

Standby Ready

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It had been almost 3 months since they left behind the Kuonji cart and Japan itself, crossing the ocean to China. Genma had effectively skipped a multitude of steps in his already established training plan. China was supposed to be the last stop, but a little fudging of the schedule never hurt anybody. Not nearly as much as certain chefs who would remain unnamed might if he stuck around Japan long enough to be found.

Thus, he and Ranma continued their journey, training across the empty stretches of china, moving from established dojos, to ancient monasteries, to completely random training grounds in the middle of nowhere.

"Here, sir, is Legendary 'Training Ground of Accursed Springs.' This place very dangerous. Nobody use now." He heard the guide say, looking out at the completely unimpressive valley of springs that stretched as far as he could see. Maybe the completely random grounds in the middle of nowhere weren't such a good idea. It hardly looked worth the effort it took to get here.

"Pops...this place looks scary," Ranma said, shivering slightly as he looked out at the many springs, the only sign of life being the bamboo shoots sticking out of the water.

"Nonsense boy, this place is fine. You're not scared of a little water, are you?" Genma said, leaping to one of the bamboo shoots. It was a good setup for balance practice, at least. They should be able to get a good work out.

"Ah, sir, what are you doing? Very bad you fall in spring!" The guide shouted, panicking as Genma moved across a few poles.

"What are you waiting for, boy? An invitation?" Genma shouted to his young son, totally ignoring the guide.

"Ah...right..." Ranma replied, still feeling nervous about the place they were training. Without any more hesitation, he leaped onto one of the many bamboo shoots. He almost fell over, but quickly regained his balance, finding victory in balancing on such a small amount of space.

"Now prepare yourself boy!" Genma yelled out, jumping from shoot to shoot working his way closer to his son. Both leaped off their respective poles at each other once Genma was close enough, and began to trade blows. Genma smirked as Ranma was doing just as he had taught him, using his smaller body to his advantage to avoid his attacks. Of course, he was going easy on his son, to let the boy get some experience. They broke off from each other, landing on different bamboo shoots on opposite sides of a spring.

"Not bad boy, but you still have a long way to go before that becomes effective!" The man said, grinning. A ripple made its way across the spring as both leaped at each other once again.

"That's not gonna work this time!" Genma said, before leaping off of Ranma's head, pushing his son into the spring while he made it safely to the bamboo shoot Ranma had previously occupied.

"Hmm...maybe that was unnecessary." Genma commented as he watched for his son to come back up. He could see bubbles coming up, but his son had yet to appear.

"Ah! That Spring of Drowned Girl! Tragic story, very tragic, of young girl who drown in spring one thousand five hundred year ago!" The guide shouted, rushing towards the spring Genma had just knocked his son into, "Now whoever fall in spring take body of young girl!"

"What!" The older martial artist shouted in surprie, turning towards the guide. A splash from the spring was his only warning before he felt a foot on his back pushing him off the pole he was on, into the spring next to him.

The small, redheaded girl that was now Ranma couldn't help but grin to herself when she caused her own father to belly flop into the spring. What an embarrassing way to fall in, especially for the graceful martial artist.

"Ah! Sir! That Spring of Drowned Panda! There is tragic legend, very tragic, of panda who drown there two thousand year ago! Now whoever fall in that spring take body of Panda!" The guide shouted again, as if he were reciting a memorized line he had repeated many times before.

"Panda?" Ranma asked, turning back to the spring as bubbles rushed to the surface just before a massive figure exploded out, landing on a bamboo shoot. Ranma watched this wide eyed and quickly fled, dodging the springs as she made a beeline for the Guide.

The large, dripping figure followed right behind the young girl, bounding from shoot to shoot on all fours with surprising agility, reaching the edge of the springs just behind his target. Ranma was running as fast as she could, not turning around as she heard the heavy thump of the panda landing on the ground, followed by the repeated thuds as it charged after her on all fours.

Genma was furious, both at himself for falling for such a cheap shot and at the boy for dooming him to a life as a panda. Within moments he had caught up to the newly female 6-year-old, his claw digging into the girl's gi, yanking her off her feet and holding her up to his face. Ranma squeezed her eyes shut as the panda growled into her face, before trying to take a small peek at what held her.

"A panda!" She yelled, pointing at the newly transformed Genma. "Pops is a panda!"

As Genma opened his mouth to yell at Ranma, completely failing to realize that he couldn't speak, a wave of scalding hot liquid crashed into his side, surprising him enough to drop the boy.

"What was that for?" He bellowed at the guide, who was now holding an empty pot that still had steam rising from it. It took him a moment to realize he was once again human.

"Hot water reverse effect of spring, Honored sir." The guide explained, placing the pot that once held hot water on the ground. "But will only last until hit with cold water again."

Ranma returned to his feet from where Genma dropped him, wringing some of the water out of his gi. For a moment, the two just stood there, letting this knowledge sink in.

"Pops?" Ranma began, looking up at his father, "I don't like China anymore."

"That makes two of us, Boy." Genma replied. It was probably time they made their way back home. Maybe he could even afford to sneak them onto a boat to get back. Swimming across the ocean as a panda would be hell. Impossible even, since the wet fur would only slow him down.

"Come on, Boy. Let's go home." Genma said, patting Ranma on the head as he picked up his pack and slung it over his shoulder, Ranma doing the same with his own smaller pack, following right behind him. They barely managed to make it a mile away before the sound of thunder rumbled across the sky, signaling the beginning of rain.

Ranma dropped his head slightly as the rain began, not even noticing the change as the water soaked into her gi and hair. The change was far more apparent in her father, who spontaneously grew several feet in height and girth, his gi bursting at the seams and his glasses hanging off one ear as he suddenly fell to all fours with a heavy thump. He grumbled, making an odd noise deep in his throat that sounded fairly annoyed, before continuing onward.

"Maybe we should find some shelter, until the rain ends?" Ranma suggested, earning an odd grunt from her father as the two sought out somewhere to protect themselves from the rain.

Eventually they stumbled upon a cave, and figuring that it was the best shelter they would find, they wandered inside. Ranma quickly set about changing out of her wet clothes and replacing them with the dry clothes from her pack. As she switched out her pants, she finally noticed what it was that the spring had changed, her eyes widening in horror.

"Pops, it fell off!" Ranma complained, pulling on a new pair of pants as Genma sighed. Great, now he had to explain the differences between boys and girls. He had been hoping he wouldn't have to talk about that until Ranma was 14...if ever. It was a good thing he couldn't talk at the moment, which gave him some time to prepare.

Genma struggled briefly to take off his bag, looking down at it for a moment before examining himself. He didn't have hands, but his paws did seem to have some degree of coordination. It was a good thing it was spring of drowned Panda, and not grizzly, or he would have little choice but to chew his pack open. With some effort, the clasps came open and he was able to extract a small metal stove, along with a can of propane gas. Next came the truly hard part, attaching the hose between the two.

"Need some help with that?" Ranma asked, only to be growled at angrily in response as her father continued to struggle with the stove. Finally, he seemed to succeed. Looking rather proud of himself, he returned to the pack, taking a pot out between his teeth and carrying it to the mouth of the cave. He placed it on a sturdy rock where it could catch the rain, then simply sat back and waited. As the pot filled, he found himself wondering just how much water it actually took to trigger the change, or how hot the water needed to be. They had neglected to ask the guide, and he had used an entire pot full of water that felt damn near boiling.

After awhile of waiting, and the storm worsening, he felt that the pot had been filled enough, catching the handle in his teeth and dragging it back towards the stove, trying not to spill it. He managed, once again growling at Ranma when she tried to help, before picking it up placing it on top of the burner, sloshing the water around in the process but luckily, spilling very little.

The matchbox came out next, and with some degree of resignation, Genma passed it off to Ranma. She struck a match, filling the cave with a brief flash of light as he turned on the gas and she lit the stove, adjusting the nob on the hose until he got the right type of heating flame. Now all he needed to do was wait for it to boil.

When the water had come to a rolling boil, Genma turned off the stove, and looked over to Ranma, pointing to the hot water. "I'm fine, you can go ahead and use it. I can't really tell the difference anyway," she said, pulling her legs to her chest. The panda shrugged, before taking the pot in his paws as best he could and dumping it on himself, yelling in pain from the hot water. He really needed to figure out the heat necessary to trigger that change. Boiling water hurts, dammit.

As Genma put on some dry clothes that he had fished out of his pack, glad his ordeal as a panda was over, he noticed that Ranma was currently looking down the front of her pants, clearly searching for something. Looks like it was time to explain a few things.

"Ranma, girls don't...that is, boys have..." he started, stopped, and cleared his throat, trying to figure out the best way to explain. As a plan started to form in his head, he placed his hand on her shoulder. "You see, it's like this..."

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It had been two years. Two years of wandering across mainland Asia, getting as far from China as they could. 2 years of training on the road in regions Genma had never researched, seeking out havens for the martial arts. Two years before finally setting foot in their homeland again, in Japan. Two years of the curse. Two years of hellish torture he would never have thought possible.

"Uminari, huh?" Ranma asked as they walked through the streets, heading towards their destination. It had been 2 years since his son had become his daughter, a fact that had become all the more blatantly obvious as time passed. At 8 years old, Ranma was becoming more and more girlish by the day. Her voice was undeniably female now, and her hair had grown enough to fall across her back, which certainly didn't help identifying his true gender at a casual glance. It wasn't like finding a barber on the side of the road was particularly easy, and damn it all, the boy actually seemed to _like _having long hair.

Worst of all, the boy so rarely bothered to change back these days. Hot water was simply too hard to come by, and whenever the opportunity arose, Genma ended up needing it more than the boy did, since his curse wasn't human. It was beginning to become a bit concerning that Ranma didn't seem to care that he was a girl. That, among other things, was why Genma had decided on settling down in one spot for awhile, having found an ad for a spot cheap enough that even he could afford to live there. Maybe with a roof over their heads and running water on tap, he could see to his son staying male more often. That was the plan, anyhow.

"That's right, boy. We'll be staying here awhile. You've been out of school for far too long." Genma looked down at the ad he had found, then up at the apartment complex, noting that the place looked a lot worse than it did in the ad. Many of the glass windows were cracked, the paint on the shutters was all chipped off...Hell, many of the windows were missing shutters, and what little of the brick wall that wasn't covered by the growth of ivy had been spray painted with graffiti. Genma could only assume the inside wasn't any better. Well, if it was this run down, it usually meant it was cheap, and the listed prices in the ad were still pretty low, so he could probably lower the rent he'd need to pay. Time for some Saotome bargaining talent!

"This might take a while, boy, so I need you to go run an errand for me," Genma told his son, sticking a hand inside his pocket for his wallet. He pulled out a small slip of paper, a bill and some change, and handed it to Ranma. "Go pick that stuff up for me, and come right back. I should be finished by then." She smiled and nodded, putting the money inside her pocket, along with the slip of paper.

"Sure thing, Pop," she said, before running off to find the nearest grocery store. Genma shook his bald head as he watched the girl run off, wondering how he would go about making sure Ranma was male while at school. He shrugged, figuring that it would be simple enough, what was more important right now was to get an apartment. With that goal in mind, he walked up the rest of the steps to the complex, and found his way to the office.

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Officer Kenshiro Yamada sighed as he flipped through the morning paper for the third time since he began his shift. His partner was currently helping an old lady find her son's address somewhere around here, leaving him the sole occupant of the small police box on this particular street. As he read the results of the last baseball game again, he wondered how he ended up with this position, sitting in a building no larger than his bathroom at home, watching traffic go by and giving directions to the nearest noodle shop to tourists.

"It'd be nice to get a little action around here," He muttered wistfully, reaching for the thermos of coffee he had been trying to make last all morning. It was nearly noon now, and it was starting to become cold and unpleasant to drink, but he took another measured sip anyway before returning the cap and reaching for the paper again.

"Eh?" He muttered, stopping briefly as he noticed something unusual out the window, just over where he'd placed his paper. A young girl, looking no older than 7 or 8 years old, was wandering the streets, apparently searching for something. She suddenly seemed to notice the police box and hurried over, clutching a piece of paper in one hand.

"Excuse me, officer, where's the grocery store?" Ranma asked as politely as she could, knowing that she was supposed to show respect to policemen.

"There's a small grocery two blocks down this road, on the right side," Yamada began, so used to giving directions that he did it as a force of habit before he stopped long enough to actually examine the girl. She was wearing a pair of cloth pants, like from a dogi, and a faded T-shirt featuring some cartoon character he was unfamiliar with. She looked like she just got done rolling around in the park, and hadn't bothered to change or bathe before going on this errand of hers.

"Hold on a minute, how old are you? Why aren't you in school?" Yamada finally asked. She was clearly too young to be a high school student, so there was some school she wasn't attending.

"I'm 8," Ranma replied, before continuing with, "I don't go to school."

Yamada shook his head in disgust. He had half a mind to track down this girl's parents and give them a firm talking to for letting their daughter run around in the middle of the afternoon, skipping school and going to the grocery store unsupervised. Some people just had no control over their kids.

"Now it's not polite to lie, little girl. All children your age go to school. Come on, I'll take you there now." Yamada replied, rising to his feet and holding out his hand to the young girl.

"No, really. I don't go to school. I'm a martial artist." Ranma replied, earning an amused look from the officer.

"You are, are you? Well I happen to be a martial artist, too, and I went to school just the same as everyone else. It's against the law for a young girl like yourself to skip school, martial artist or not." The officer stated, once again holding out his hand for Ranma to take. She looked reluctant, but slowly put her hand in his, not wanting to defy the officer.

"Where is it you go to school?" Yamada asked as he led her away, but answered his own question before the girl could reply, "Seishou is the only grade school in the area. That must be it, right?"

Ranma just frowned as the cop dragged her away, knowing she wasn't supposed to give the police any trouble, but also knowing she didn't attend whatever school she was being led towards.

She got the feeling this misunderstanding wasn't going to be resolved anytime soon.

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Keiji Yashamaru leaned back in his desk chair, eying the bottle of alcohol in his bottom drawer as he considered getting an early start towards drowning his sorrows. He was the owner of the dump that was this apartment building, much to his displeasure. He had been suckered into buying the property years ago, unaware at the time that the entire area was being reestablished as low income housing. He bought what used to be a high quality building and watched as the neighborhood went to shit, rapidly overrun by the poorest people, who always seemed to bring crime with them. It wasn't long after that when the vandalism began, and then his tenants started leaving one by one. Now he was caught in a catch-22, unable to afford repairs from a lack of tenants, and unable to get tenants from a lack of repairs. If things continued to decline like this, he'd have no choice but to get a loan, but the only place that would give him any money were the local Yakuza, and that was the point of no return.

He sighed, pulling a cigarette from the carton on the desk, flipped open his lighter and lit the smoking death stick. He took a long breath before blowing the smoke he inhaled back out, hearing the ring of the bell attached to the front door. Somebody was here? All his current tenants worked all day. It was either a new renter, or some punk trying to kill him for his money. He briefly noted how sad it was that he would have been fine with either one.

The door opened, revealing a large man in a doji, head covered by a white bandanna and a pair of glasses over his eyes. Hardly looked like the petty robbery type. Maybe he had actually lucked out for once. Keiji took his feet off his desk so he could stand up to greet his new guest, showing him his best welcoming smile.

"Hello sir, and welcome to my fine establishment. Can I get you anything? Coffee? A snack perhaps?" He asked, laying on the kind host act as best as he possibly could. He didn't care about pride at the moment, he needed more tenants so he could actually afford to repair the run down building.

Genma Saotome looked the apartment complex owner up and down, his nose twitching slightly from the smell of cigarette smoke. Obviously the man knew that his place was in complete disarray, and obviously wanted some customers. This would do just fine.

"I'm here to rent an apartment," the martial artist stated, all business. The desperation on this man's face was clear, which meant a bargain was at hand. He probably wouldn't even need his patented Saotome bargaining skills. This would be simple.

"Are the prices listed in this ad correct?" Genma asked, holding out the paper to Keiji, who rubbed his stubbled chin as he looked it over. The ad was incredibly old, from back when the place hadn't been half demolished by the rowdy gangs in the area. He'd slashed his prices at least twice since then. Was this guy really willing to pay such a price? He hoped the bald man was really that stupid.

"Why yes sir, they are correct." He smiled innocently at Genma, wondering just how much he could get out of him for a room.

"I see." Was all Genma replied. He locked eyes on Keiji, giving him a harsh glare. Keiji just continued to smile back at him unflinchingly.

"You're sure its correct?" Genma reiterated, still giving Keiji a harsh look.

"Yes sir. No mistake." Keiji replied, still giving him an innocent smile. Genma frowned as the landlord failed to budge. He had underestimated this man. Apparently, he'd have to pull out all the stops. In an instant Genma was on the ground, bowing and scraping before he began to beg Keiji with all his being.

"I beg you, please allow me to stay for less! I am but a poor martial artist with a young child to support! I need the money to keep us fed, surely you wouldn't allow a man and his 8 year old to starve in the street?" Genma begged, crouching on the floor and crying crocodile tears.

"Uh..." The cigarette fell from Keiji's mouth as he stared down at the man in complete surprise, unable to form a coherent response to this.

"Did I mention I'm a skilled laborer? Put me to work! I'll fix anything you need!" Genma added, still on his knees as he grabbed Keiji by the front of his shirt.

Keiji was utterly baffled by this. He had expected the man to turn him down and demand a lower price, or at least try to haggle a bit, but instead he broke down and started to cry. He watched on has Genma continued to beg and plead for less rent, the words coming out his mouth not registering for several moments as Keiji continued trying to wrap his head around what was happening. He came to his senses as he realized the man had offered up his services for free labor, a wicked smile coming to his face.

"Alright, alright, I'll lower the price...but! If I do this, you will help me in improving the apartments for free, okay?" Keiji insisted with conviction.

"Oh bless you, sir! You are indeed a saint!" Genma replied as he sat up, tears rolling down his face. Keiji had to hold back his urge to laugh. This guy was a sap, pure and simple. It would have been a shame not to have taken advantage of him.

"Alright, I'll go get the paper work ready. You can take a seat, if you would like." The landlord stated, sitting back at his desk. He opened a filing cabinet, and pulled out a folder filled with papers, and pulled out a packet as Genma eagerly began to sign.

"Okay, looks like we're in agreement. I'll just be getting your key now. Oh, and before I forget, the boiler has been broken for a while now. Until I get enough money to replace it, all you'll have is cold water." Keiji commented. Genma's mouth simply dropped open in horror.

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Ranma frowned as she looked at the police officer now standing between her and the school gates. It was clearly lunch or recess, as children her age were all around the yard, doing what kids did, and the policeman was quite insistent that she join them.

"Come on, I have to return to my post. Be a good girl and stay in class." Yamada insisted, for what had to be the fourth time. Whenever he started to leave, the girl made a break for it, and he really didn't feel like bringing her all the way to a teacher, knowing that getting any further involved would just make this outing longer. If the girl would just play along and stay put, he wouldn't have to worry, but she was being a nightmare. This is why he didn't want kids, no matter what his wife said.

Ranma frowned some more, wondering if it was worth it to dart past the cop and just run as fast as she could. She was pretty fast, but the cop seemed to be faster. She hadn't been expecting him to catch her the last three times, and wasn't sure if she could actually out run him.

'I'll just go around the school and jump over the wall on the other side. I'd like to see him catch me then.' Ranma thought to herself, smiling mischievously at the officer before darting away into the school yard. Yamada stood his ground, waiting a few minutes to ensure the girl wasn't coming back. Confident she was gone, he turned and walked away, back to the tedium of the police box.

Ranma smirked in victory as she jumped to the top of the barrier wall, looking down on the sidewalk on the other side as she prepared to make her break towards freedom. This whole mess with the police officer already wasted at least 20 minutes of her time. If she hurried, she might be able to get to the grocery store and back before her pops got mad.

She was distracted by the sound of two high pitched screams, however, her hair standing on end as she turned and looked around for danger. She was disappointed to find nothing, only a pair of girls on the second story of the school building, trying to pull the other's hair out. Dang, just a couple of kids wrestling. There wasn't any fun in that.

"Let go!" One of them screamed, pushing the other as they stumbled towards the window. Ranma perked up again as she noticed the window was hanging open, a bad feeling settling in her stomach as she saw the two off balance girls continue to move without pause. She sprinted towards the building as fast as her legs would take her, moving on instinct. There was another scream as the girls hit the window sill and kept going, though this time it was more out of fear than anger as they tumbled out the window. Ranma's feet left the ground as she went skyward, kicking off from the wall to give herself an extra boost as she met the girls in midair and did her best to catch them. They shrieked again, startled by the sudden rescue and latched onto Ranma for dear life, pinning her arms in the process.

"Hey, leggo! I can't move if you do that!" Ranma yelled at them, but they were too hysterical to respond. The redhead seemed to stop in midair for a moment as the impact of the two girls slowed her ascension before all three of them continued back to the ground. She was much too small to hold two other girls and land properly. This was probably gonna hurt a lot.

Her feet hit the ground first, and she bent her knees as she landed, just as she was taught. However, with the extra weight of two girls, it wasn't enough to stop the stinging pain from shooting up her legs. She fell over onto her back, hoping that lessening the pressure she put on her legs would end the pain. No such luck.

The two other girls were much better off, not touching the ground until Ranma had fallen back. They both stared in shock at their savior.

"That was amazing!" the brown haired one exclaimed, "How'd you do that?"

"I jumped." Ranma replied, happy that the girls had released her as she got back to her feet. She winced upon doing so, feeling the stabbing pain run up her legs again.

"You're hurt!" The one in the ponytail gasped, getting to her feet and moving to Ranma's side. "This is our fault. We'll take you to the nurse!"

"What? But I'm late enough as it is!" Ranma protested, pushing the other girl away and taking a step towards the barrier wall, only to feel another stab of pain in her legs. Crap, she probably wouldn't be able to make the jump in her current condition.

"No buts!" the other agreed, taking Ranma's arm to support her weight on one side while the ponytailed girl did the same on the other. The redhead began to protest again, but her complaints quickly turned into quiet grumbles. Stupid girls and their stupid desire to help. She'd never make it back on time at this rate.

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Genma flipped the room key over and over again in his hand while he sat on the steps in front of the apartment complex. It was strange, Ranma was supposed to have come back hours ago. Where had that boy gone? Surely he couldn't have gotten lost while searching for the grocery store. The martial artist was quite confident he had taught him better than that.

He gazed over as two figures walked in front of the steps, Ranma being one of them, followed by a strange man with a briefcase in one hand and an odd box under the other. his brow furrowing as he noticed his 'daughter' had finally decided to show up. He didn't care much who the other guy was. Heck, it could have been just another tenant for all he knew...

"Where have you been boy? And where are the groceries I told you to buy?" Genma demanded, standing up on the steps, glaring angrily at his son. First he decides to show up hours later, but now he comes back without the items they needed. That boy needed to be taught a lesson.

"That's him." Ranma suddenly said, addressing the man who was walking with her. Genma raised an eyebrow in surprise, not sure what to make of this.

"Mr. Saotome?" the man asked, seeing a slight nod from Genma, "I am Hayate Kobayashi, a teacher at Seishou Auxiliary Elementary School."

The teacher bowed in greeting, which Genma quickly returned, though he didn't go as low as the teacher did.

"Genma Saotome. Seishou Elementary? What do you want?" Genma asked, glancing at Ranma. He had intended to get the boy enrolled first thing in the morning, after they had settled in. He was curious about what had happened while the boy had been out.

"Your daughter was found wandering the streets by a police officer and brought to our school. She is at the age where schooling is mandatory, you know." The teacher explained, noting curiously that Genma flinched when he said 'daughter.'

"We only arrived in town this morning. I haven't had the opportunity to enroll...her...yet." Genma muttered with a grimace. This was just what he needed...

"Yes, your daughter explained your recent arrival to us. We had intended to call you down to the school to fill out the proper paper work, but Ranma here says you don't have a phone?" Mr. Kobayashi seemed to be probing with the question, something Genma didn't much care for.

"We just moved in today. Do you expect me to have a phone set up in that time? Or for an eight year old to memorize the number?" Genma questioned, feeling irritated. Really, some people just didn't pay attention to details.

"So you will have a phone line available to you in the future, in case of emergencies, yes? If something were to happen, the school would be happier if they had a means of contacting you." The teacher replied, hiding his intent rather poorly with this line of questioning. Genma resisted the urge to scoff at him.

"I should have no problem with that. What are you trying to say, Mr. Kobayashi?" Genma looked at the man coldly, immediately taking a dislike to him. He always hated the self righteous types. Just because he raised Ranma without certain luxuries, people assumed he was unfit to be a father. Last thing he needed was over zealous social workers sniffing around.

"I mean nothing by it, Mr. Saotome, I was just making sure we could contact you in an emergency." Kobayashi explained, lifting his briefcase up and showing it to Genma.

"I did bring the necessary paperwork to enroll your daughter in school, for your convenience. Shall we go inside?" The man asked, tapping his fingers a few times on the leather bound case. Genma glanced at Ranma again, seeing the girl standing passively to the side while this conversation took place. The fates were clearly against him. It seemed he had no choice but to enroll Ranma as a girl, now. Just his luck.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

Hayate Kobayashi pushed up his glasses as he looked around the small, pathetic excuse of an apartment that the Saotomes were apparently living in. It seemed his initial assumption based on the way the young girl was dressed had been correct, she was clearly living well below the poverty line.

The first word that came to mind to describe it was undoubtedly, 'Small,' with 'Shoddy' being a close second. The room he was currently sitting in was fairly plain, with a square table at its center, and a small nook containing the staples of a kitchen to his right. There was no clear defining line where living room ended and kitchen began, as there was no form of arch or doorway to signify it was a separate room. In fact, there were only two clearly defined separate rooms, and from his position, he could clearly tell one was a bathroom that looked like it had seen many better days, and the other seemed to be a bedroom. The walls were cracked and unpainted, the sole window was broken, and he could see clear signs of water damage and other forms of wear and tear no matter where he looked.

From the looks of it though, it seemed like the two had been living in much worse, seeing the excited smile that had formed on the young girl's face as she looked around the room. As he straightened out the pile of papers he had pulled from his brief case, Ranma had been zipping around the room, examining all the things that she found interesting. Eventually her father had to tell her to come sit down to stop her from picking apart the cracked sheet rock walls anymore then they already were.

"Now all I need you to do is fill out all the information on these sheets, minus the phone number of course, and your daughter can start school first thing tomorrow morning," Hayate stated, pushing the papers across the small table towards Genma. He then took the pen out of his shirt pocket and placed it on top of the pile for the man to use.

Genma grabbed the pen and started to read through the papers, filling out the necessary information as he went. That was until he got to the part asking for Ranma's gender. He paused, debating whether or not he could get away with registering Ranma as a boy.

"Is there a problem?" Mr. Kobayashi asked, breaking through Genma's thoughts. He sighed and filled in 'female' on the paper, officially making his son...his daughter.

"No...no problems," the martial artist said, taking off his glasses, rubbing the lenses on his dogi before putting them back. Finally getting through all the papers, he placed the pen on top of the pile and pushed it back towards his guest. The man took the forms and placed them back in his briefcase, before picking up the box that was on the floor next him.

"Thank you very much sir. Here is the school's uniform. Ranma will be expected to wear it when she attends from here on out. If she needs a spare, there's a card in the box with the names of a few stores nearby that carry them." He said, handing the box over to Genma, before standing up to leave.

"Also, when you get that phone, please call the school to let them know your number. I'll be taking my leave now." Finally the teacher left, and Genma felt his irritation leaving his body. He turned to look at Ranma, only to see the girl was now wearing the school uniform in question, apparently trying it out.

"It fits." Ranma announced, before she performed a few practice punches and kicks to test her range of motion. She went into a spinning kick, causing the long skirt to billow out and clearly revealing to Genma the bandages around her legs. Were that not enough, there was a clear wince on her face as she landed and the uniform settled around her.

"It's a little weird, but I can move easy in it." Ranma said, trying to ignore the stab of pain that had run up her legs. She had hoped she'd have recovered by now, but her legs still hurt from that fall.

"What happened to your legs, boy?" Genma questioned, his face solemn. Ranma just chuckled nervously, turning to face her father.

"Ah, it's nothing, pops. I just landed bad earlier." Ranma explained, seeing a displeased look cross her father's face before continuing, "I saw some girl's falling out a window, so I leapt up to catch'em, but they were heavier than I thought they'd be. I landed wrong and they took me to the school nurse, and she called the principal, who called that guy, and it all kinda went down hill from there..."

"I see..." Genma said, closing his eyes with a simple nod. What horrible luck. He couldn't fault Ranma for saving the girls. Hell, he couldn't be prouder of the boy for so quickly reacting in that situation. But he couldn't help but be annoyed and displeased at the turn of events, and the way he was left with little choice but to register him as a girl.

Genma opened his eyes again, releasing a deep, remorseful sigh as he watched Ranma continue to move around and test the uniform, any last shred of deniability now gone. All he could see when he looked at her now was a little girl with long red hair, wearing a cute school uniform. It was remarkably depressing. He was definitely going to have to go buy some alcohol tonight. He really needed a drink.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

The morning sun shined down on the roof of the apartment complex, which was noticeably better kept than the rest of the building. Two figures stood in the middle of the flat, gravel covered surface that made up the roof, one larger than the other, both going through an identical series of motions at the exact same speed. A casual observer might see the motions as harmless, a simple exercise, but to the trained eye, the purpose behind them was clear. Each fluid motion was a strike on an unseen opponent, and each attack flowed into the next, like an intricate dance.

The 'dance' soon came to a stop, and the two figures bowed towards their respective unseen opponents, before turning to each other. Beads of sweat covered the older man's face from his workout that day, and he dabbed at it with the towel that was wrapped around his neck. "I think it's about time you got ready for school, Ranma," the man said, patting the redheaded girl on the head.

"Alright," responded Ranma, heading towards the stairwell at a decent clip.

"And don't forget to wash up, first. Don't want them to think you're uncivilized." Genma added as she ran off. He idly wondered how he would explain this to his wife if he ever saw her again. He hadn't seen nor heard from her since he had left with Ranma on this training trip, so it was very unlikely that she would pop up any time soon. In the mean time, when he wasn't working, he could try and research a cure.

"Speaking of working, I need to go job hunting," he muttered to himself. With that in mind, he too left the roof to get ready for the rest of the day. He had a feeling it was going to be a tough one.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

"Students, from today on a new student will be joining us. I expect you to treat her as you would anyone else." The teacher said from her desk, before turning her head to face the new addition to her class. "Please introduce yourself to class, if you would."

"Hi, my name is Ranma Saotome. Please take good care of me," the cute redheaded girl stated as she bowed to the class. Despite all her effort, she couldn't help but feel a little ridiculous, having never attended a public school. She wasn't exactly used to any of this. Standing straight again, she looked through the class, looking at the faces of her classmates.

"Thank you, Ranma, you may now take the open seat in front of Jinta," the teacher said, waiting for Ranma to sit down before beginning her lesson. Ranma quickly sat down in the indicated seat, not exactly sure what to expect once class started.

It wasn't long before there was a break in the classes and the students quickly started gathering in groups, chatting happily. Ranma looked around the class, seeing the two girls she had saved the day before sitting next to each other, both obviously trying to ignore the other. Apparently they still haven't learned.

Having nothing better to do, Ranma got up from her desk and briskly walked over to the two. Neither seemed to notice her approach, being too busy looking away from one another.

"Hey." Ranma said simply, causing both girl's to jump and look towards her. "What's with you two?"

Both girls started talking at once but immediately stopped and glared at one another for the interruption. Ranma frowned at the obvious anger between them, seeing that they were getting ready for another fight and decided it was best to nip this in the bud, slamming a hand on one of the desks for emphasis. "If you two want to take another trip out a window, you're headin' in the right direction. And this time, I won't be there to catch your sorry butts."

The girls jumped again at the noise before Ranma's words registered. They had the good sense to look embarrassed.

"Sorry. We didn't mean to involve you in our fight last time." The ponytailed one said, glancing angrily at the brown haired girl next to her briefly, who returned the angry look.

"What're you fighting over anyway?" Ranma asked. The reminder of what had triggered their fight apparently only got them angrier.

"She called Mr. Fuzzy an ugly furball." The ponytailed one said accusingly, glaring at the other girl.

"Well, he is! Not my fault your cat is dumb and ugly!" The brown haired girl shot back.

"Mr. Fuzzy is not dumb and ugly! He's much nicer than your gross dog!" The ponytailed girl retorted, her voice raising.

"None of my dogs are gross!" The brown hair girl replied, as if struck.

"He looks like a dirty mop!" came the vicious insult.

"You take that back!" The brown haired girl all but screamed, her hands lashing out towards the other girl.

"Shut up!" Ranma shouted, slamming both hands down on the desks and snapping both girls out of it quickly. "Are you both dumb or something? What kind of argument is this? I almost want to throw you out the window myself!"

All three were silent for a moment, the two girls looking shocked while Ranma just stood there with her arms crossed. Finally, after half a minute, Ranma saw fit to continue.

"Besides," She began, turning slightly away from the two and putting her nose up, "Everybody knows that pandas are way cooler pets than dogs and cats combined."

There was another brief moment of dumbstruck silence as the two girls looked at Ranma in disbelief. However, the silence was disturbed by a snicker out of the ponytailed girl, which only seemed to set the both of them off as they began to laugh in earnest, suddenly feeling very silly about the whole thing.

"You're funny," The one with the ponytail remarked as her laughter subsided, continuing with, "I'm Sayuri."

"Yuka." The other added, her own laughter trailing off as she smiled at Ranma.

"Nice to meet ya." Ranma replied, grinning at the both of them as she sat down in the nearest empty seat. These two seemed alright enough. School may have been weird, but at least she had found some other kids to talk to.

(-)(-)One Year Later(-)(-)

Blood. He was bleeding...bleeding far too much to be able to fight effectively. That wasn't going to stop him from trying though. He looked up briefly at the blood red sky before focusing on his surroundings. The crackling of leaves in the bushes nearby caught his ear and he turned to face his enemy once again. He breathed heavily as he reached his hand out towards the monster that had no defined shape, then closed it. The demonic red eyes of the shapeless monster stared at the boy, waiting for him to make the next move.

He growled angrily and charged towards the formless being, his fists clenched tightly. Despite the loss of blood, the boy still miraculously pulled off a quick and yet powerful combo of punches and kicks, pushing the monster back a few feet. Like every time before, his attacks had no effect against the formless demon, only serving to leave him open for a counter attack. The force of the monster's charge sent him flying backward, his back hitting the ground hard, leaving a streak of blood on the ground as he slid further. Grunting, he forced himself to stand once more, knowing this was his last chance. He raised his right hand once again, opening it wide towards the monster.

The red spherical jewel that floated in front of the boy's hand glowed brightly as a circle of light formed between him and the monster. Unknown characters formed inside the circle, and started to spin around the inside of the edge. He groaned slightly as he watched the circle get smaller, due to his lack of energy. He forced himself to center the barrier before he began his chanting.

"Ethereal echo, become light!" He started, focusing intently on the monster before him.  
"Forbidden monster, enter this sealing circle! Jewel Seed Seal!" He yelled out as the monster launched itself into the air, fully intent on crushing the small boy with its full size and weight. It crashed straight into the sealing circle with all the force of a freight train, sending off shock waves that shook the trees in the area violently. The red tinted leaves were pushed from the trees and blown away in the great gust created. For a few seconds they stayed motionless as the beast pressed against the circle before being repelled suddenly. Pieces of its body flew off of it, landing on the ground in a sickening splat as the creature was pushed back.

"No!" the boy cursed, his sealing circle disappearing. He fell to his knees, trying his best to watch through his weary eyes as the monster ran off.

"I've...got to...follow it!" He groaned, falling onto his stomach. He couldn't do anymore, he had hit his limit. It was unfortunate, but hopefully someone would be able to hear him.

"Damnit!" he cursed, his body beginning to glow brightly. "I refuse to let this end here..." The light engulfed his body, it's size shrinking smaller and smaller until the glow disappeared completely, leaving a small black piglet laying on the ground unconscious. A second later the gem fell to the ground with a slight bounce, landing close to the small piglet.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ranma's eyes snapped open as she sat up, looking around the dark room from her position on her futon. Darkness still prevailed in the room, as dawn was still a few minutes away, and yet a glance to her side showed that her father was already absent, his futon empty.

"What a weird dream." Ranma muttered, quickly getting up before walking towards the closet she shared with her father. Most of its contents were hers, however. Over the year since they had come to Uminari, her school had organized a few donation drives to help the less privileged students. She now had a decent collection of second hand clothes because of it.

Ranma quickly pulled on her gi and pulled her hair out of the back before tying it off in a simple ponytail to keep it out of the way. It was about time for her morning workout, which happened to be one of her more favorite parts of the day.

"Oi, pops!" Ranma announced as she left the bedroom, looking around for her father. He was nowhere to be found in the living room, nor the kitchen, and a quick glance in the bathroom failed to produce the man either.

"There's not many places he could hide..." Ranma muttered, looking around. She didn't notice the ceiling panel slowly sliding open, nor did she see the figure that crawled down from the new hole like a spider.

"An opening!" Genma shouted, leaping from the wall and nailing Ranma with a jump kick she just barely managed to block. The blow threw them both out the window, which had long since been reduced to little more than a framed hole in the wall because of how often one of them ended up being knocked out of it.

Ranma twisted around in midair as she and her father plummeted to the ground, getting one good kick off towards his mid section before they touched down on the sidewalk below and her father immediately broke off into a run, which left her no choice but to follow. She pushed herself forward into a spinning kick, which her father blocked and countered without much problem as the two of them made their way down the road.

"You have to do better than that, Ranma!" Genma shouted, backing up and deflecting the barrage of blows his daughter was sending at him. Ranma lashed out with a flurry of punches that were all casually knocked away before feinting with a jab towards her father's face, smirking as he moved to block it before twisting around into a swift kick to his gut which sent the man reeling back.

...directly into the support bar of an old overhang, which immediately collapsed, dumping collected rain from the night before over her father's head. In an instant, the man was gone and a Panda had taken his place, collapsing forward to all fours with a groan. Genma quickly shook the water out of his fur and glared at Ranma. She simply chuckled, taking a nervous step back as the massive bear approached her.

"Heh, I guess I win the first round, then?" Ranma asked weakly, immediately dodging her father's response as he swiped at her. She leapt back from the follow up swipes before bounding completely over the panda's body as he struck low, landing on the building behind him and quickly breaking into a run before leaping to the building behind it.

She didn't need to turn around to know her father was right behind her. There simply wasn't a sound quite like the one made by a charging bear hot on your tail. Ranma felt the roof beneath her feet rumbling as her father gained on her, running on all fours. She leapt across an alley way, tucking into a roll and scraping a few shingles off of a roof before getting back to her feet and continuing her sprint. Once again not needing to look behind her, as the sound of shingles shattering under the weight of her father's panda form was more than enough of a signal to gauge his progress from.

"Cut it out, pop! Using your panda form's cheating!" Ranma shouted, leaping into a twisting flip as she flung the shingles at her father. He leapt after her, his large front paws lashing out in swift swipes that shattered the incoming projectiles before he twisted around to deliver a kick with his back legs. She rose both arms to block, having no choice but to be flung down towards another roof from the blow as she landed in a roll and heading off once again.

She was lucky that Pandas weren't really built for kicking, otherwise that landing probably wouldn't have been as smooth. She didn't have time to dwell on it, though, instead darting off at top speed around a roof access before bounding towards another building.

Ranma picked up speed as her father crashed into the roof behind her, charging after her again. She looked up, noticing that the sky was quickly becoming brighter as dawn approached, smirking as an idea entered her head.

"What's wrong, pop? I thought you were faster than this!" Ranma taunted, skidding harshly before she changed direction again, now heading straight east. She leapt over yet another alleyway, looking towards the horizon as the sun began to rise.

'Aaaaand...now!' Ranma thought, intentionally under powering her jump as she leapt off the building and sailed across the alleyway. Genma watched his daughter leap, following the arc of her jump as he reached the edge and prepared to leap himself.

However, just as he got there, the sun rose over the horizon and cleared the buildings in the way, shining directly into the Panda's eyes, blinding him as he reached the edge and jumped wrong.

Ranma landed in the fire escape of the next building over, watching as her father soared across the alleyway and smashed into the edge of the roof with a heavy thump. She winced at the impact, then winced again as he fell, smacking into the fire escape on his way down before finally landing on a dumpster, which had been closed.

As Genma rolled off the dumpster and landed roughly in the alleyway, he groaned as well as a panda could, looking up to see Ranma looking down at him from the top of the fire escape.

"Does this mean I win round two?" She shouted down at him, earning another Panda groan in response. Ranma watched as her Panda father got back on his feet, then stood tall on his back legs and seemed to stretch for a moment before glaring up at her.

Genma didn't like standing on two legs as a Panda. They weren't really designed to do it much at all, let alone walk, run, or fight while standing. One thing he had discovered, though, was that his physical strength was significantly higher as a panda, and by standing on two legs, he opened himself up to some effective combat strategies.

Ranma looked down from the fire escape, paling as she saw her father awkwardly grip the dumpster with his forepaws and lift it clean off the ground with a disturbing degree of ease, holding it above his head. He then hurled it right at her.

"Eep." Ranma dove off the fire escape without caring where she landed, hearing the fire escape torn apart as the dumpster smashed against the building behind her. She tucked into a roll as she landed in the street, getting back up and glaring back at her father as the dumpster got dislodged from the wall and hit the ground in between them.

"Geez, pop, we're just sparring!" Ranma shouted, only to watch her father ram the dumpster with enough force to send it skipping across the street right at her. She leapt, avoiding the dumpster, but meeting her father in mid air.

Ranma was sent flying clear over a fence by Genma's blow, landing with a roll in the park behind them. The panda landed right in front of her a moment later, but she didn't give him a chance to ready himself before she struck, leaping at him with a kick. Genma snapped back as her foot struck, swatting aside the follow up blows before retaliating in full, pressing forward with several swipes that Ranma had no choice but to avoid, backing up repeatedly as she did so.

"Holy crap, what the hell is that?" A random passerby muttered, seeing a little girl who was probably around 9 or 10 locked in combat with a freakin' Panda. As he pulled out his cell phone to call animal control, another man placed his hand on his shoulder, stopping him before he began.

"Don't worry about it, they come through here every morning. I think the Panda's her pet or something." The other guy explained, earning a look of complete disbelief in response. They both turned back towards the fight, only to see the two figures disappearing into the distance as their battle took them away from the park.

Ranma was breathing heavily now, really feeling the burn from the exercise as she flipped over another attack from her father, landing on the roof of a parked car before bounding off it to a nearby rooftop. The sun had fully risen by now and was shining brightly down on them as Ranma avoided a few more swipes, trying to kick her father in response only to be grappled in a bear hug and hurled across the street onto the opposite building, landing roughly on her back.

She didn't let that slow her down, though, quickly hopping back to her feet as her father came after her, leaping off the building onto the fire escape of the much taller building next to it, running up all the way to the roof before jumping to the next one, her father right on her trail.

With one last jump, Ranma cleared another alleyway and tucked into a roll as she landed on their apartment building, rolling all the way to the stairwell before she returned to her feet and pushing through the door without slowing down. She nearly fell down the stairs as a result, but quickly caught herself as she made her descent.

"Gah!" Ranma muttered, jumping slightly at the sound of her father smashing into the door above her. She quickened her pace as the entire stairwell seemed to rumble, the sound of her father charging down the stairs echoing off the walls and making the entire ordeal all the more frightening as she finally reached their floor, damn near breaking the door off its hinges to get out of the stairwell.

She was in the home stretch, glancing behind her for the first time to see the menacing figure of the panda galloping down the hall right behind her, seemingly clawing at the floor in front of it and throwing itself forward with every bounding step. She skid to a stop, her foot finding purchase on the opposite wall before she leapt through their open door, landing on their dining table roughly as her father reached the doorway.

"Safe!" She shouted, wiping some of the sweat off her brow as she looked up at her father. He grumbled, but stopped his assault, moving towards the kitchen on all fours before raising up on two legs to work the sink.

As she sat up, she noted with a grimace just how much of a sweat she had worked up and stood, heading towards the bathroom while undoing the belt of her gi. She had school in another hour or so, after all.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

His eyes opened up suddenly, and he quickly got to his feet to look around. What he was hoping to find wasn't in sight, and he sighed deeply. He had fought with all of his ability, and still the beast had gotten away. There was nothing else he could do except search for it.

As soon as he moved one small hoof forward, he winced in pain, realizing just how much damage he had taken. While shifting had lowered his magical usage, resulting in his regenerative magic healing him at a quicker pace, he was still in terrible shape. He was stubborn though, and was not going to give up easily.

The small black pig began to walk off the path he was on, towards the street, ignoring the pain in his muscles, which didn't possess the energy they needed to move. He needed to find that beast before it could cause any more damage...or at least someone who could help him fight it.

He turned in a circle, looking at the ground for any sign of the gem he needed. Luckily for him, it was close by. He let out a sigh of relief as he made his way over to the spherical gem, kneeling down, waiting for it to attach to the necklace underneath the yellow and black bandanna tied around his neck. It rolled toward the pig, and almost as if it where magnetic, it was pulled off the ground, disappearing underneath the bandanna. He trudged forward, towards the street at the end of the path, walking slowly, trying not to irritate his wounds.

He continued walking around the city looking around at large buildings, not feeling too impressed with their size. He had seen much larger where he was from. It was odd though, after what he could tell was an hour of walking, he felt that he was seeing the same thing. He occasionally had come upon dirt paths behind a few houses where the sides of the paths were lined with trees. It was much like that path that he had fought that beast in too. Seemed like there were a lot of those in these cities. The buildings he passed also began to seem the same too, having the same layout and store names as the other places he had passed. He soon found himself looking at another dirt path, lined with trees, looking just like the past five he walked through. This city sure was repetitive.

He shook his head, and looked at the ground, noticing hoof prints that matched his own ahead of him. His eyes widened in realization, and he squealed in outrage, angered by the fact that he had been walking around in circles for the past hour or so. How did he not notice the blood stain on the ground from the previous night. Made from his own blood!

He sighed and continued walking, knowing that if he didn't continue walking, even if he just ended up walking in a circle again, he still wouldn't get anywhere. He hoped this time he would find some food. It could have been anywhere from a few minutes to an hour before he finally made some headway. He couldn't tell, as he had lost track of time. However, food was definitely in the area. He could smell it in the air, and his stomach grumbled painfully as he got closer.

He finally found it, noticing that the air was filled with the smell of sweet, baked goods. His stomach only grumbled more when he inhaled the rich smelling air, causing him to follow the smell to its source. What he found was a small store with a few tables and chairs outside for those who would like to eat in the fresh air. It was unlikely he was going to be able to get inside, but luckily for him, there was a young girl outside, eating what looked to be a delicious cake. There was only one way he was sure he could get himself something to eat, and while he was usually against such a method, he didn't have any choice.

He walked over to the girl and looked up at her with his eyes wide. He did his best to make his eyes tear up, before he whined loud enough for the girl to hear. The girl turned to looks at the source of the noise, a bright smile forming on her face as she saw the cute little black piglet staring up at her.

"Aww, what a cute piglet!" She exclaimed. His stomach growled conveniently to let the girl know he was starving.

"Aw..you must be hungry, Mr. Piggy. I'll go get some food for you, okay?" She said, then stood up from her seat and headed inside the building. Finally, he would get some food, which would help his recovery even more. A few seconds later, the girl came back out, holding a small plate with a slice of cake on it. She placed it on the ground in front of him, smiling as she watched the piglet dig into it, eating it as quickly as he could so as to get something in his stomach.

The piglet finished the cake quickly, feeling content now that he had finally eaten something. He squealed happily, trying to let the girl know he was thankful. His eyes widened as he had a strange feeling, like something was near. He quickly looked around, not spotting the monster that would be searching for him, but he knew it was close. With that, he began to run off, ignoring the girl as she called after him. He needed to get as far away from her as he could, so he wouldn't get anyone involved.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ranma sighed a bit as she walked down the sidewalk at a leisurely pace, book bag in one hand and a drink in the other. She finished it off in one last gulp, before spotting a trashcan nearby, throwing it almost casually into the bin.

School had ended awhile ago, and Yuka and Sayuri had to go to cram school, like they always did, forcing them to go their separate ways. She always wondered why they would want to attend a cram school. Really, you just got out of school. What do you want to do? More school?

"I'll never understand that." Ranma muttered to herself, turning a corner and heading down a new street towards her home. She briefly wondered if her father actually had anything ready to eat today, or if they would end up trying to find cheap take out again at the last minute.

'Can anyone hear me?' Ranma stopped in her tracks, turning to examine her surroundings as the strange voice reached her ears. She recognized it, but she couldn't remember from where. 'If you hear me, then help me out!'

"That voice...From the dream?" She muttered to herself, looking around for the source. The wind suddenly changed, blowing harshly down the street, forcing her to hold her skirt down and lift her hand to keep her hair out of her eyes. The world around her seemed to take on an odd hue as a sound rang in her ears. It almost felt like the space around her was being enveloped in some strange energy.

"What is this?" She muttered, looking up as a small shape leapt over a wall ahead of her. Immediately after it passed, the wall exploded in a cloud of concrete dust as a massive figure barreled through it. It barely looked like anything at all, just a mass of dark energy with eyes that seemed to writhe in place. It didn't stop for long though, immediately following after the smaller shape as they both seemed to charge straight towards her.

Her eyes locked on the small shape in surprise, seeing that it was in fact a small, black piglet, with a yellow and black bandana wrapped around its neck. It seemed to notice her and instantly changed direction, coming right for her. She almost unconsciously opened her arms as it leapt at her, catching the piglet tightly in her arms just as the monster behind it came down on her position.

In an instant she was airborne, twisting through the sky as the black mass collided with a street lamp behind her, breaking it in half. She landed on the street with barely a sound other than the fluttering of her skirt before she adopted a ready stance, waiting for the creature to get back up.

"What the heck is that thing?" Ranma muttered, watching as it lashed around under the top half of the pole, two tentacle like appendages waving about above it.

"That's a Jewel Beast." The piglet announced in a gruff voice that seemed completely inappropriate for it. Ranma just looked down at the animal in her arms for a moment, her mouth falling open in shock.

"You can talk?" She asked, but immediately turned away from the piglet and leapt to the side again as the dark shape charged down the road where she had previously been standing.

"Of course I can talk. Didn't you hear me calling you?" The piglet exclaimed with a hint of venom, watching the beast warily as it skidded to a stop and turned around again. "You're the only one around with the right nature for my magic."

"Magic?" Ranma asked in surprise. The beast was on the move again, turning around and charging right back at her. Ranma quickly turned and ran, skidding to a near stop as she sharply changed direction to run down an alleyway that was two thin for the beast to fit through.

"The only reason I'm in this world is to capture beasts like that, but as much as I hate to admit it, I can't take this one on my own." The piglet continued, jumping out of Ranma's hands and standing before her, looking at the jewel beast as it slammed into the mouth of the alleyway, trying to reach them with its tentacles.

"I've got no problem fighting this thing. It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak from stuff like that." Ranma announced, looking firmly at the monster. The pig seemed to get angry, turning around to glare at her.

"Hey, who're you calling weak?" It demanded. Ranma just blinked, sparing a look away from the horrible monster trying to kill them to glance at the irate piglet.

"Ah, quit your whining. I wasn't talking about you." She explained, looking up at the beast again. It was starting to change shape, squeezing down the alleyway after them as both she and the piglet took a step back. "That thing doesn't look like it has a body. What am I supposed to do?"

The piglet seemed to be chewing on its bandana for a moment before it flicked its head back at her. She noticed a streak of movement and lifted her hand, catching the small red jewel he had thrown to her.

"Take that, close your eyes, focus your mind, and repeat after me." The piglet commanded as the beast inched closer. Ranma examined the red jewel in her hand in confusion, looking at the pig again.

"Eh? What's this supposed to do?" Ranma questioned. She was pretty sure she heard the pig groan in frustration.

"There's no time to explain right now! It's magic. Magic kills monsters. What more do you need to know? Now repeat after me and don't screw it up!" The pig insisted. Ranma just shrugged, figuring listening to the pig was better than getting eaten by a weird monster. She released a breath as she closed her eyes, clutching the jewel tightly as she focused on it.

"I, the one who accepted this mission..." The piglet began, as the jewel beast roared at them, its tentacles waving in the air menacingly.

"I, the one who accepted this mission..." Ranma repeated, ignoring the way the ground seemed to shake as the beast inched closer.

"...by the ancient contract, order you to release your power!" The jewel beast was getting closer now as the piglet took another step back, just as Ranma repeated the words.

"by the ancient contract, order you to release your power!" Ranma continued, the jewel in her hand suddenly shining brightly.

"The wind is in the sky, and the stars are in the heavens." They were speaking in unison now, the words coming on their own as a pulse seemed to pass through her body. The jewel beast roared again, but Ranma continued unhindered, not even noticing it anymore.

"And a resolute heart beats within my chest." They continued. The jewel beast suddenly stopped its advance, seemingly surprised as beams of light were erupting between Ranma's clenched fingers. "This magic in my hand..."

Unconsciously, Ranma raised her hand, jewel still tightly clenched as she held it above her head. The piglet had stopped now, turning around and staring at her wide eyed at the sheer volume of power coming from her body.

"Raising Heart, Set Up!" The only way to describe what followed was as an explosion. immense light poured out from her body as she released the jewel, now holding it over her head between two fingers as power flowed from her body with enough intensity to hurl the Jewel Beast from the alley and blow the surrounding trash around like a hurricane force wind. The piglet clutched the ground with his hooves as well as he could, marveling at this result. He never expected to find a mage with this much potential.

"What the..." He muttered, looking up as the light seemed to be fading slightly. He could see the jewel changing as words seemed to appear within it, accompanied by a robotic voice that seemed to reach his ears despite the intense wind in the alleyway.

**"Standby Ready,"**

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To Be Continued:

The Authors' Notes:

JSB: Okay, after looking over this chapter, we had decided that some things definitely needed to be changed in order to take the path we want to. And one of the original scenes really needed to be fixed, as we must have been insane to actually think it was adequate. Anyways...please, for all that is good an holy, do not spout how Nanoha/Fate is the only pairing allowed within the Nanoha franchise. Whenever that I see the remark about "Natural Order", or anything close to that, I vomit a little inside.

Ryo: Well, here it is, new and improved. We received a lot of complaints about some of the characterization we had here, and after looking back, we agreed. It was shitty. So we changed it. Also, as we began working on Chapter 3, we realized that the way we want future chapters to play out really clashed with the atmosphere we had established in the first two chapters, hence the revision. Hopefully now, the seeming genre shift that's gonna hit won't be so jarring.

Brought to you by the combined efforts of:

Ryo-Wolf & JSB.


	2. Set Up

A/N:

Mahou Shoujo Ririkaru Ranma...Hajimarimasu.

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The pig's eyes were wide open as he continued to stare at the large beam of light that was still shooting out of the girl's hand. While it was pretty impressive for someone just introduced to magic, he was pretty sure he could do better. It was odd that Raising Heart hadn't initiated its set up mode yet. It was as if it was still waiting for something it needed.

Realization hit the pig instantly, and he cursed slightly at himself for losing focus when they had so little time to spare.

"Are you done showing off? Quit wasting so much energy and concentrate!" The pig shouted behind him, earning a frown and a glare from the girl.

"Hey, I don't know what the hell I'm doing, so shut it!" Ranma shouted back, trying to reel in the power overflowing from her body and control it more. The Jewel Beast roared, seeing the power had faded and advanced down the alley way again.

"You're supposed to be focusing on your barrier jacket and wand!" The pig replied, before noticing the girl was staring at him blankly, "Just think of some clothes and a weapon, already!"

"Clothes and a weapon?" Ranma muttered. The first thing that came to mind was the clothing she was already wearing, namely her school uniform, and a spear, for reasons she didn't quite know. However, before she could focus any further, the jewel in her hand shone brighter as characters once again appeared on its surface.

**"Set Up."** The feminine, robotic voice of the jewel announced as the light it shone now began to collect and envelop Ranma, lifting the girl off the ground.

"Good, it's started!" The pig said, looking back towards the Jewel Beast that was getting closer and seemed ready to strike. It was far too close, and the transformation would not be done in time to block it. Gathering what little energy he was able to recover during the day, he prepared to protect the girl while she couldn't react.

Ranma's clothes vanished in an instant, breaking apart into particles of light as she floated briefly in the nude. She lost hold of the jewel in her hand as it floated above her, growing significantly in size as metal the color of gold seemed to manifest around it, taking the form of a long blade, curving around the jewel before straightening out into a vicious and sharp point. As the blade took shape, two short cylinders attached themselves to the back of the curve before a thin, blue handle appeared, firmly attaching itself to the end of the blade before becoming significantly longer, forming a sturdy polearm.

Ranma reached out to the newly formed spear, clothing appearing on her body as she gripped it firmly. her under garments appeared first, followed by a simple long black shirt. Light cascaded down her body, taking the shape of a long white and red dress before a short white jacket with red trim formed over her upper body, ending in red and gold cuffs and the end of her sleeves. The whole outfit was incredibly similar to her school uniform, down to the sailor collar that hung down her back to the bow that tied the jacket shut. A pair of black socks and white and red shoes appeared on her feet and a metal protector appeared around her waist, just as a white strand of cloth tied her hair back in a loose ponytail to finish the ensemble, the light dying down in the process.

Slowly she floated down, her feet touching the ground lightly. She opened her eyes, staring forward at the scene in front of her, only not exactly paying attention.

"...Wha?" She asked, confused. She still couldn't quite believe what had happened. This was just a little more unbelievable than magically cursed springs.

"Mind giving me a hand?" It was the pig's voice, but the pig was nowhere to be found. Instead a black haired boy stood in front of her, wearing the same bandana around his head that the pig had been wearing around his neck. The boy currently seemed to be holding off the Jewel Beast with his bare hands, blood leaking from an open wound on his face as he looked back at her.

"Any day now!" He shouted, wincing as the Jewel Beast forced him back several inches, its tentacles slamming into his body. He was still injured from the last time he fought it, but he wasn't about to let the girl fight the monster on her own.

A white and red blur shot past him as the Jewel Beast seemed to practically disappear, shooting out of the alley at high speed and crashing into a wall on the other side of the street. Ranma touched down right in front of the black haired boy, spinning her spear around a few times after the blow she had just delivered to the monster.

"Who the heck are you, anyway? Where'd the talking pig go?" Ranma asked, looking at the newcomer before turning back to face the recovering monster.

"I'll explain later; we've got to handle this first." The boy said, clenching his bloody hands, forcing himself to ignore the pain. Just great, more injuries to add to the list.

"Okay, fine. How do you plan to stop this thing?" Ranma asked, noticing that the Jewel Beast was ready to attack again.

"Its body is just a mass of power, you can hit it all day and it won't stop. Believe me, I tried that already." The boy explained as the Jewel Beast roared once again. In an instant it charged at them as they both leapt away, the beast smashing into the mouth of the alley and breaking the walls on either side.

"You have to seal it!" He shouted, landing on the other side of the street and buckling slightly in pain as Ranma came down in the middle of the street.

"Seal?" Ranma muttered, turning towards the boy in confusion. She didn't notice the Jewel Beast getting up much faster than it did before, nor the way it was charging right at her.

"Look out!" The boy shouted, but unfortunately he was too late. Ranma barely had enough time to raise her guard against the bull rushing creature.

**"Protection."** The Jewel beast crashed into a light barrier that suddenly appeared in front of Ranma, much to her surprise. The barrier crackled with energy for a few moments before the Beast was forcefully repelled, its body exploding and peppering the street with shards that tore through the reinforced concrete without issue. A telephone pole was severed cleanly in half in the process, while the walls and street became cracked and broken, full of holes the size of baseballs.

"What the..." Ranma muttered in surprise, confused by this turn of events as tendrils of energy extended from the creature's body towards the various holes, looking to extract the shards that came off it and reform.

"It's weakened! Quickly, say the incantation and turn it back into a Jewel Seed!" The boy shouted, dropping the chunk of concrete he had torn out of the wall to use as a shield. He didn't have the strength to erect a barrier anymore.

"What Incantation!" Ranma demanded, not knowing at all what the boy was talking about. It's not like she had done this before. She didn't even know how she had pulled off that barrier.

"Just think about it. It will come to you if you focus." The boy replied as the jewel beast writhed around and reformed, looking like it wouldn't stay down long. Not knowing what else to do, Ranma just said the first words that came to mind.

"Jewel Seed Seal!" Ranma shouted, leveling the spear on the beast before her.

**"Sealing Mode. Set up."** The spear suddenly extended slightly just below the head, revealing three slots which promptly folded out before three wings of energy erupted from the weapon. Ribbons of light seemed to shine from the jewel, extending towards the still recovering Jewel Beast before wrapping around it tightly.

A number appeared above the beast's eyes, a red glow outlining the roman numerals XXI.

**"Stand by, Ready."**

"Jewel Seed Serial Twenty-One, Seal!" Ranma finished, pointing the spear at the Jewel Beast as it roared in protest.

**"Sealing."** The jewel in the blade of the spear shined as multiple beams of energy shot out of it, lancing straight through the Jewel Beast's immobilized body. It roared out one final time before it was enveloped in a blinding light, vanishing in an instant. All that was left was a small jewel, which fell harmlessly to the street. Ranma took a few steps forward to look at the discarded jewel, only for it to suddenly float towards her spear, disappearing into the jewel in the blade.

**"Receipt No. XXI"** the spear announced. Ranma blinked a few times before looking around, seeing no other disturbances or anything out of the ordinary.

"That's it?" She asked, before grinning and swinging the spear over one shoulder, "Heh, that was easy!"

"Yeah...easy..." The boy muttered, trying not to grumble. He had fought that Jewel Beast for hours, nearly died, and when he tried to seal it, the damn thing broke out and got away. This girl had totally just shown him up, and she had done it casually.

"Am I awesome or what?" She said, laughing cockily as the boy winced and growled a little. He could already feel the adrenaline rush wearing off, as every knick, cut and bruise made itself known. With the Jewel Beast gone, he suddenly felt like he didn't have the strength to stand.

"Eh?" Ranma muttered as she started glowing. Her barrier jacket disappeared, leaving her clothed in her school uniform once more as the spear collapsed down into the small red jewel it had started as.

"Oh, that's it, huh?" Ranma muttered, flicking the jewel into the sky before snatching it out of midair. She turned towards the odd boy now, finally looking at him for a few moments. the yellow and black bandana on his head, the faded yellow tunic that looked like it had been dragged down a mountain since the last time it had been washed, and a black pair of pants tied off at his shins in gold cord. It was an odd choice in clothing, to say the least.

"So who are you, anyway?" Ranma asked, turning towards the boy as he approached with a limp. He was also clearly injured, something that hadn't gone unnoticed by the girl. He looked like he was about to die.

"Ryoga Hibiki." He replied, looking like he was about to say more when all his energy seemed to leave him at once. With a final sigh, he fell flat on the ground without any resistance or attempt to break his fall. Before Ranma could say anything, his body shimmered with green light before shrinking significantly, taking on the shape of a small black pig once more.

"...Jusenkyo?" Ranma muttered in shock, before shaking her head. There hadn't been any water around. That couldn't be it.

"Jeez, you're a mess. Can't do anything without my help." Ranma said, scooping up the small pig and looking around. What was she going to do with him? He would need to be treated, and soon. She was pretty sure there had been a vet around here somewhere...

"Shoulda come to me sooner, if you're just gonna get your butt kicked all by yourself." Ranma said simply, heading off in the direction of the veterinary clinic as Ryoga seemed to groan in her arms.

"I mean really, I kicked the crap out of that thing without even breaking a sweat, and you look half dead. You should work out more. Build some muscle." Ranma continued before wincing painfully.

"Ow!" She cried out, looking down to see the pig digging his teeth into her forearm. "What was that for?"

Ryoga was far too busy chewing on her radius to reply.

"Leggo!" Ranma shouted, shaking her arm violently as she continued on her way towards the vet.

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Ririkaru Ranma

by

JSB & Ryo-Wolf

Chapter 2

Set Up

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He sighed deeply, watching his breath float on the frigid morning air as he did so. It was 5:35 AM. He knew this, because when his phone rang that morning he had gone out of his way to verify the time before yelling at whoever called him at this ungodly hour. That had been half an hour ago, and were it not for the fact that the one calling him had been the police chief, he'd still be in bed with his wife. Needless to say, Kenshiro Yamada was not happy, though that wasn't the only reason. He considered himself a master at fighting crime, His father was a police officer, his father's father was a police officer, his father's father's father, so on and so forth. Policing ran in his blood. He had been gifted with an analytical mind, and prided himself on his ability to always find the people responsible for a crime, usually soon after it happened. It was what he was good at.

"This makes no sense at all!" Officer Yamada shouted, much too cold and irritable to be more professional. He and his newbie partner, Kazuki Kichiro, now stood staring at a very damaged street; walls were broken on both sides, the road itself had quite a few dents in it from heavy impacts, and almost all of the street lights had been knocked down. There was no clue for a suspect anywhere, and it pissed him off to no end.

"What the hell happened to this street?" He yelled, looking at the devastation. It looked like someone had taken to it with a wrecking ball, aiming to break through the street. That wasn't likely, of course, as getting a wrecking ball in and out of such a street without anybody noticing would have taken a miracle all on its own, and it didn't explain the baseball sized holes peppering the entire area.

"Isn't that up to the detectives to find out, sir?" his partner asked, pulling the caution tape out of his supply bag. They were only cops after all, and weren't supposed to touch the crime scene until the investigation team showed up. Even then, they'd probably be dismissed or asked to handle crowd control.

"Tch, I'd be a detective by now if the department had any sense." Yamada replied, causing his partner to roll his eyes. Kichiro could tell the man was about to go into the same speech he heard every time the subject of investigation came up, and quickly interrupted.

"I heard an alley a few blocks from here got messed up yesterday morning. Witnesses said a runaway panda did it. Maybe there's a connection?" Kichiro offered, trying to be helpful.

"A panda? I don't think a panda could do this kind of damage." Yamada scoffed, finding the idea too bizarre to be true.

"Apparently it was a really strong panda. Picked up a dumpster and threw it several stories up the building. Tore up the fire escape real bad." Kichiro continued, walking around the large craters in the ground while rolling out the tape.

"That's absurd," Yamada said with a shake of his head, "No way a Panda could do anything...like..."

Yamada stopped mid sentence at the sound of a loud crash, turning to look down the street towards the source. The first thing he noticed was the car, hanging slightly in mid air as if it had been swatted aside. The next thing he noticed was the panda that had clearly done the swatting, charging down the street on all fours in their direction. Finally, he saw the young boy in the karate gi, looking no older than 10, running for his life from the animal in question.

Both officers were frozen in surprise, unresponsive as the boy vaulted their tape and kept going without pause. Even when the panda barreled through the tape seconds later, neither reacted. It wasn't until a lost tire from the car rolled by that either managed to break out of their stupor.

"Was that-"

"A panda, sir. And it was chasing some child like it was going to eat the poor kid alive." Kichiro replied.

"And did it-"

"Flip a sedan? Yes, sir, I believe it did." Kichiro interrupted again. He then noticed the way Yamada was grinning and sighed, knowing exactly what was coming next.

"Stop, in the name of the law!" Yamada shouted, breaking off into a full sprint at surprising speed as he chased after the retreating Panda.

"See, this is probably why they won't promote him." Kichiro muttered to no one in particular. Not wanting to deal with the issue of the flipped car, and knowing Yamada would probably go overboard on his own, he decided to chase after his partner.

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"Dang it, pops! You gotta calm down! Why do you get so angry as a panda?" Ranma yelled as he ducked under a swipe from the large panda chasing after him. They could get in enough trouble already for the damage they caused to the streets during morning training, so why did his father always make it worse?

Ranma leaped easily over the caution tape that was in his way, while Genma only plowed straight through it, completely ignoring it in favor of taking another swipe at his son. Stupid boy had activated his curse again during practice. It always made his day much harder, since getting back into the apartment was such a chore.

"Stop, in the name of the law!" A nearby cop yelled, causing Ranma to look towards the man, briefly taking his attention off of the panda. Genma took the opening, charging forward with a roar and leaping towards his son, front paws at the ready. Unfortunately for him, his attack wouldn't hit, and as soon as he got airborne for his pounce he got kicked out of the air by some person who had the gall to interfere in his vengeance.

Both Genma and his assaulter flew over Ranma, and the panda landed with a roll, getting up quickly to face the person who had interfered. His small beady eyes widened upon seeing a man in a police uniform, and began to make his escape, panicking.

"Kichiro, watch the kid so we can question him later," the policeman called to his partner before he began his chase after the panda, taking his two nightsticks out from their holsters. He spun them around in his hands once, as if he were wielding a pair of tonfa, and increased his running speed to catch up with the runaway panda.

"I thought we weren't supposed to run from the police, pop?" Ranma said as he got up slowly, watching as the policeman chased after his father. With the adrenaline rush of having an angry panda chasing you wearing off, Ranma's mind cleared enough to take a look at the sun rising into the sky.

"Ah, man. School's gonna start soon." Ranma muttered. He still needed to get ready, and so he turned to walk home, only to find another policeman standing in his way.

"Sorry kid, I can't let you leave." The officer said between labored breaths, clearly not accustomed to running after people. "We'll need to ask you some questions about the panda once officer Yamada gets back."

The officer brought out a pair of handcuffs as he caught his breath. He quickly cuffed one of Ranma's arms, and one of his own, securing them tightly. Ranma frowned, looking down at the chain now attaching them together, then to his fleeing father again. Running from the police, huh? Worth a shot.

"What were you doing out here so early in the morning, getting chased by a panda?" Kichiro asked, looking over his shoulder towards the devastation a distance behind them. He briefly wondered when the inspectors would show up to survey the site, so that he could go back to his usual duties.

"Kid?" Noticing the boy hadn't responded, he turned back around, jumping in surprise as he suddenly found himself handcuffed to a statue of a Tanuki. He quickly looked around, not seeing the kid anywhere.

"But...what...how did..." He rambled, searching his belt for the handcuff's key only to find it missing. Something metallic on the ground caught his attention, noticing that the kid had apparently used the key and had discarded it nearby.

Kichiro sighed in relief and took a step towards the key, only to jerk backwards as he completely failed to move the statue. A few more test pulls didn't fare any better.

"Oh, come on!" He shouted, pulling on the statue with all his might while trying to reach the key, failing miserably on both counts. What terrible luck. Life really did like to play cruel jokes on him.

"Kichiro," a detective that had just arrived started, looking at the scene before him, "This is definitely one for the records."

Kichiro sighed as the man grinned widely at his bad luck. He was never going to live this one down.

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Genma twisted violently to the side as a nightstick cut through the air where his head had previously occupied, vaulting away as the second one followed, intent to finish the job of the first. He twisted expertly in mid air, landing swiftly and cracking the tiles under his weight as he eyed the police officer warily. He found it odd that he couldn't outrun the man, especially on all fours. He must have been very well trained.

"This is the end of the line, Mr. Panda. Come quietly." Yamada said, slowly circling as he held his nightsticks defensively. The panda circled in the other direction, moving its four legs in expert side steps in a way that gave the officer pause. The idea that one could train a panda to fight seemed silly, but he couldn't deny what he was seeing.

The panda suddenly lunged forward, looking ready to bite before jumping slightly off the ground with its front legs and taking a powerful swipe towards the officer's face. Yamada jumped back with wide eyes, surprised by the subtlety of the attack. For an instant, he had thought the panda was going low, but that quick jump...Was that a feint?

The attacks did not stop as the panda closed the distance in seconds, moving oddly on only three of its legs. Purely on instinct, Yamada moved away from the one limb the panda seemed to be favoring, not knowing what to make of it. As soon as it was close enough, the panda struck with its free forepaw, taking a swipe towards his mid section that Yamada quickly moved to avoid. The panda just flowed from one movement to another, his free paw coming down, crossing over its other forepaw as it put all its weight on its front. The panda's entire body lurched into the air as it spun, lashing out with its legs towards the flat-footed cop.

'A handstand?' Yamada couldn't believe it, unable to dodge the sudden motion and instead lifting his nightsticks for a block. The full weight of the animal slammed into him with force he was barely able to comprehend as his feet suddenly lost contact with the ground, sent flying by the blow. He hit the roof back first and skid a few meters, stunned briefly by the impact. He didn't so much hear his opponent coming in for the finisher as he felt it, the roof under him shuddering with each heavy step as the panda charged. He quickly rolled back to his feet and jumped away, just as the panda reached his former position and smashed down on it with both front legs.

Yamada was only moderately surprised when the panda's paws went straight through the roof, sinking up to the shoulder into the building they were fighting on. This wasn't some street punk, this was a freakin' bear, and the strength behind its attacks did a fantastic job of reminding him just what the hell he was fighting.

"Hya!" Yamada cried out, charging forward with his nightsticks ready, hoping to take advantage of this opening in his opponent's defenses. The panda was stuck in the roof up to its shoulders, and thus was defenseless. One quick blow to the back of the neck should knock it out without any more hassle.

It almost looked like the panda grinned at him, something that Yamada would have ignored as his own imagination were it not for the other seemingly impossible things this panda had already done. The panda's upper body shuddered with effort as the cop realized his mistake. With a roar, it swung its arms straight up through the roof, tearing lose the support beams that held the roof tiles they were standing on in place.

As his footing disappeared from under him and gravity took hold, Yamada noticed the Panda leaping forward towards him and knew this was the point of no return. They were both plummeting through the ceiling into the building below, and if he didn't have the advantage by the time they hit the ground, he was a dead man.

"Hya!" Yamada shouted, twisting his entire body into a blow from his nightstick just as the Panda closed. He nailed it directly in the chest, halting its forward motion and disrupting its attempted pounce. He spun his other night stick around, holding the long end out and jabbing the beast in the neck with a follow up, pushing it back a bit. They were now even in the air, the Panda no longer on top of him, just as they hit the ground.

With a crash, they hit the floorboards in a rain of plaster and shattered wood, the distinct sound of another crack reaching Yamada's ears as the floor cratered and broke. The cop had mostly absorbed the landing, however the panda had hit harder, being much heavier and having shorter limbs to brace the fall with. It was briefly stunned from the impact, and that was all Yamada needed to press his advantage.

"Junsakyaku!" He shouted, taking the panda full in the face with a twisting kick that launched the both of them back towards the sky. The panda was moving in midair, putting up a guard with all four limbs, but Yamada refused to allow it. He lashed out with several more kicks as they went up, breaking the panda's guard as Yamada finished his spin with both nightsticks at the ready.

"Junsaseme!" Genma's vision swam as he suddenly lost track of the officer's weapons. He was fairly certain that they were somewhere in the blur of motion assaulting him from all angles, if the horrible pain throughout his body was any indication. The barrage ended abruptly as Yamada pulled both arms back, nightsticks held tightly with the long end sticking straight out in striking position. With a final shout, he delivered the final blow, thrusting both weapons into Genma's abdomen and hurling the panda away. Genma passed straight through the wall of the building, smacking into the next one over with enough force to pass clean through the outer wall, crossing the room within and leaving a crater in the next wall over. He very nearly passed straight through that one as well, but the wall held longer than Genma's momentum did as the panda slumped to the floor.

Yamada landed with a grunt, his leg passing through the floor beneath him painfully. He dropped his two weapons in the process, the tips red hot and smoking.

"Tch, what a shoddy landing." He muttered, slowly pulling his leg out of the hole and rising to his feet. His weapons rapidly cooled as he grabbed them and returned them to his belt, moving painfully towards the hole he had put in the wall and jumping to the next building.

"Alright, Mr. Panda. You're under arrest." Yamada said as he reached his downed suspect, pulling a pair of handcuffs off his belt and lifting one of the animal's large paws. It took a moment for the absurdity of the situation to finally catch up to him as he tried and failed to get his handcuffs to fit. He just defeated a panda in combat. He was, even now, attempting to cuff said panda, so that it could be booked and processed at the station. He, Kenshiro Yamada, proud officer of the law, was trying to arrest a panda.

"What the hell am I doing?" He found himself asking. The panda offered no comment.

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Finally classes were over. Ranma breathed in contentedly as she strolled briskly to the lockers, hoping to leave as soon as she could. She had things she wanted to do, a pig to check up on, and probably more training. She opened up her shoe locker and noticed a white letter fall out and float to the ground. She eyed it curiously and picked it up, examining both sides of it to see her name written on the back of it.

"A challenge letter!" She muttered, examining the envelope as she wondered who had the gall to challenge her in this school. None of the other students were anything special that she had seen. Maybe Jinta? He seemed pretty angry after Ranma beat him in that 100 meter dash. She smirked at the thought of having an excuse to kick the crap out of him.

"Hey Ranma, what'cha got there?" The light-haired girl who suddenly appeared on her left asked. Ranma jumped a bit, surprised that she had been snuck up on. When did she get there?

"Oh, a love letter!" A voice from the other side stated, causing Ranma to jerk to look over her other shoulder, spotting her other friend, Yuka looking at the letter. "You going to read it?"

"A...love letter?" Ranma asked, feeling somewhat unsure about it. She could handle a challenge, heck, it would be a lot of fun for her. She didn't want anything to do with some love letter though.

"Of course! There's even a heart sticker on the back of the envelope," Yuka grinned as she pointed to the envelope, which did indeed have a heart sticker. Well, a ripped heart sticker. "So are you going to read what it says?"

"You should totally read it, and then go meet him!" Sayuri exclaimed, jumping from excitement at how their friend finally got her first love letter. "It's not every day that someone takes an interest in our Ranma!"

The poor girl in question deadpanned at her friends' enthusiasm and began to wonder why she even was friends with them. Without even taking a look inside of it, the redhead crumpled up the letter and tossed it away, never wanting to look at it again.

"I have more important things to do then meet some guy just so I can turn him down." Ranma huffed, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Oh, that's no fun!" Yuka said with a pout, drawing Ranma's attention as Sayuri bent down and picked up the crumpled letter.

"You have to read it, Ranma!" Sayuri announced, opening the letter and smoothing out the paper, "Ah, it's from Jinta!"

"What?" Ranma shouted, turning on her heel and snatching the letter before Sayuri could blink. Her hands shook uncontrollably as she quickly looked over the letter. Note to self; kill Jinta.

"What's it say?" Yuka asked, trying to peak over Ranma's shoulder as the redhead pulled away to keep her from reading it.

"Absolutely nothing! It's blank! This never happened!" Ranma insisted, running from her two friends as both tried to snatch the letter.

"Come on, Ranma! Let us see!" Yuka yelled, making a dive for it, only to find that Ranma had slipped once again from her grasp. She should really know better than to try and catch that girl.

"Save the letter!" Sayuri cried, swiping at Ranma as the girl backflipped and landed on top of the lockers. In a flash, the letter became confetti in her hands before she tossed it in her mouth and swallowed.

"What letter? I don't remember any letter." Ranma announced in victory, jumping off the locker before swapping out her shoes in record time.

"I got stuff to do, see ya!" Ranma said, heading out the door with her two friends in hot pursuit.

"You cheater!" Sayuri shouted, quickly catching up to the redhead.

"Come on, what'd it say?" Yuka asked, only for Ranma to turn her head away and whistle nonchalantly.

"I bet Jinta confessed his love. He probably wants to be boyfriend and girlfriend." Yuka decided.

"Ah, how romantic," Sayuri sighed wistfully. Ranma resisted the urge to shudder.

"Eww! That's gross!" Ranma made her distaste known, shaking her head violently while Yuka and Sayuri shared a look behind her.

"Poor Ranma, she's still just a little kid, I guess." Sayuri suddenly said, causing Ranma to wince.

"Such a childish reaction. She just isn't as mature as the two of us." Yuka nodded solemnly as Ranma winced again.

"That...That..." Ranma began, clenching her fist in front of her face. Yuka and Sayuri each turned to one another and started laughing to themselves as a vein started to bulge on Ranma's temple. Mock her, would they?

"Fine! I was going to invite you to come see the hurt piglet I left at the vet, but now I don't feel like it." She said, storming towards the gate as fast as her legs would take her. It was probably best that she didn't take them anyway. Would be harder to hold a conversation with a talking pig with people watching.

"Eeeeeeh?" Yuka and Sayuri said in unison, chasing quickly after the angry girl, completely forgetting about the love letter. "You found a piglet? Is it cute?" Yuka asked, only to be treated with the cold shoulder.

"Aww, don't be like that. We were only kidding." Sayuri placed a hand on the angry girl's shoulder, hoping to calm her down a bit. It didn't work too well, and she found herself being treated the same as Yuka. Both could only watch as Ranma started to sprint away down the street. They knew they had no hope of catching up.

"She did say the piglet was at the vet's right?" Sayuri asked, smirking.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ranma opened the door of the Veterinarian's office, expecting to only find the vet there. However, she was surprised to see her two friends sitting at the table playing with the piglet she had brought in yesterday. The same two friends she thought she had ditched right outside of school.

"What...How...When?" Ranma babbled, pointing at the two girls, then at the door, and then at the pig, trying to understand what had transpired to cause this situation. How did they get here before she did?

"What? You said you were going to the vet's. This is the only vet in the area." Sayuri stated, holding up the flailing piglet, who was trying his best to get out of her grasp.

"Knowing you, you probably went out of your way to make sure we got lost on the way here," Yuka theorized, holding her index finger up for effect. Ranma opened her mouth to counter, but closed it immediately, as that was exactly what she did. Damn! They knew her too well.

The black piglet that was currently held in the lighter-haired girl's hands struggled defiantly until the girl released him. Bounding across the table, he leaped off the edge towards Ranma, who instinctively opened up her arms to catch the flying piglet.

'_Get me the hell out of here!'_ The voice of the boy she had met yesterday demanded in her mind, much to her surprise.

"I see you've found your little friend, Ranma." The veterinarian, Dr. Yamada, said as she approached the three girls with a bright smile. As Ranma turned to face the woman, she did a double take, seeing the cage that the woman had been standing in front of currently held a large, disgruntled panda. The cage was chained closed, with a signboard tucked between the bars which read, 'please do not release the panda.'

'Oh...you have got to be kidding me,' Ranma thought, dropping her head in shame at the sight. Dr. Yamada noticed this and tilted her head slightly in curiosity.

"Is something wrong?" She asked, concerned.

"Ah, no! Nothing's wrong. Uh...Thanks for taking care of Ryoga, by the way." Ranma said, gesturing to the pig in her arms.

"It was my pleasure. Little Ryoga here was no trouble at all." The doctor replied as Ranma glanced at her caged father quickly. He had apparently noticed her presence now, and was gesturing at her in some vain attempt to communicate. It was probably his demand that she should release him. Like she was going to do that.

"Ryoga, huh?" Sayuri muttered, walking over to Ranma and looking at the small piglet in the redhead's hands, "That's a weird name for a pig."

The piglet, whose name was indeed Ryoga, growled angrily, his pointed fangs easily noticeable, and glared at the girl for her comment. If he wasn't being held so tightly by Ranma, he would have jumped up to bite the girl. It was plain rude to insult his name like that. He thought it was a good name.

"You think?" Ranma asked, ignoring the obvious distaste Ryoga had in the way this conversation was going.

"Yeah, it's not cute enough," Yuka agreed, putting her hand to her chin in thought, "How about P-chan?"

_'P-chan? I refused to be called P-chan!'_ Ryoga's voice sounded in her head in disgust. She was kinda curious how he was doing that. A mischievous smirk found its way on her face, however, as she thought about it.

"P-chan sounds like a great name." Ranma said, only to have the small pig in question bury its teeth into her arm. "Ow!"

"I don't think he likes that name." Sayuri observed, giggling as Ranma waved her arm around, trying to dislodge the pig.

"Sayuri's right. You should probably just stick with Ryoga." Yuka agreed, just as Ranma managed to shake the pig loose, sending him flying straight into the hands of the light haired girl.

"Now, now, Ryoga. There's no need for you to be angry anymore." Yuka claimed, scratching the piglet behind his floppy ears. The pig seemed to calm down a bit, but was still glaring at the other two girls. Seeing that Ryoga was busy once again, Ranma turned to face the veterinarian.

"Soo...what's with the panda?" Ranma asked, acting curious despite how she probably knew the answer. There was just no other explanation really. The vet wore an amused smile as she remembered the story her husband told her when he brought in the panda.

"Oh, him? He's a fugitive." Dr. Yamada said simply, still smiling, "A real hardcore criminal."

Ranma blinked, looking back at the cage to see the panda was glaring at her, gesturing more angrily now. She briefly wondered if that cage could even hold her father when he was in panda mode, considering how strong he was.

Apparently unable to contain herself any longer, Dr. Yamada started laughing hard enough to bring a few tears to her eyes.

"Sometimes I worry about my husband. He means well, but really, arresting a panda?" She muttered, looking back at the Panda in question.

"At least he had the good sense not to bring it to the station." She said, turning back towards the three girls.

'Or the zoo' Ranma thought thankfully. If Genma had been sent to the zoo, she might never see her father again. Well, she was pretty sure he would have broken out, but how long that would take was another question.

"Anyway, thanks again." Ranma said, heading towards the door of the office, her friends following behind her. She turned briefly, giving one last look at her father as she neared the exit. He was now chewing on the chain, glaring at her while doing so.

Ranma just grinned, sticking out her tongue at Genma before heading out the door, her father giving her the evil eye the whole way.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

"Thanks for the ride, Yuka," Ranma said as she jumped out of the car, holding the black piglet by its bandanna as she headed off. She didn't want to get bitten again anytime soon.

She heard her friends saying goodbye behind her as she headed towards her apartment building, dropping Ryoga inside the door as he twisted and bit at her wrist.

"Hey, cut it out! Bad Ryoga! Bad!" Ranma scolded, moving towards the stairs with Ryoga close behind.

_'I'm not your pet!'_ Ryoga announced in her head, a green flash filling the stairwell briefly as he took on human form, still angry about Ranma's earlier antics. In short order they arrived at her apartment, Ranma opening the door and heading in while Ryoga stopped just outside.

"I need Raising Heart back." He said, holding out his hand once again. He was grateful for her help, but he needed to do this himself. It was his fault in the first place anyway.

"Why?" Ranma pretty much ignored Ryoga, pulling the tie out of her hair and letting it out of its ponytail before starting to undo her uniform. Ryoga's train of thought was promptly derailed.

"Wh...what the hell are you doing?" Ryoga blurted out, his face turning red as he quickly stepped into the room and slammed the door shut. Who knew if somebody might walk by.

"I'm changing out of my uniform. What's your problem?" Ranma replied nonchalantly as she stepped out of the dress. Ryoga immediately spun away, shutting his eyes just in case.

"You can't do that in front of other people!" He practically shouted. Ranma just shrugged, not understanding what the big deal was. She changed clothes in front of other people all the time. She even had to every day at school for gym.

For a few moments, everything was quiet as Ryoga stood in the room with his eyes closed. He was starting to grow impatient, however.

"Are you dressed yet?" He asked, hearing Ranma moving behind him.

"Yup," She replied. Ryoga breathed out a sigh of relief as he opened his eyes and turned around.

"Good, now I-Gah!" Turning, Ryoga found Ranma dressed only in her underwear, holding a new set of clothes in her hands. A jet of blood shot from his nose as he promptly collapsed.

"Passing out again? Geez..." Ranma complained, before shrugging and stepping into her skirt. Ryoga clutched his nose to stop the bleeding, blushing furiously as he got back up. What the hell was wrong with this girl? She had no shame at all!

"Just...give me Raising Heart back..." He muttered as she pulled on a t-shirt, glad to see she was wearing clothes again.

"No, she likes me better," Ranma said simply, smirking. She crossed her arms over her chest, looking amused as the boy growled angrily.

"Okay fine, I'll make you a deal," she started, fishing Raising Heart from underneath her t-shirt. "We'll fight for it. If you win, you can having Raising Heart. If I win, I get to keep Raising Heart and help you with this Jewel Beast problem."

Ryoga just looked at her for a few moments, halfway between confused and angry.

"Why do you even want to help me? This is my problem. I should fix my own mistakes." Ryoga insisted.

"It's a martial artist's duty to protect the weak, and you're the weak one here."

"Hey!"

"What? You were half dead after the last night, obviously you can't fight them by yourself."

"I can too handle them by myself!" Ryoga shouted, angered by Ranma's baseless claims.

"Can not!"

"Can too!"

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah!"

"Prove it!"

"Fine then!"

"Okay! We'll fight on the roof. Follow me!" Ranma said, marching towards the door with a purpose. Ryoga stopped for a moment, however, suddenly realizing he'd been tricked.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

"The rules are simple, anything goes...except for magic." Ranma stated, standing a good distance away from Ryoga, grinning. She had already won this fight.

"That's fine with me," Ryoga replied, taking on an odd stance that Ranma had never seen before. Despite his serious face, Ryoga was at something of an impasse. On the one hand, Ranma was a girl. He didn't like the idea of beating up a girl. On the other hand, Ranma was probably the most annoying girl he had ever met, and she seriously needed her ego knocked down a peg or three.

"Ready to lose, P-chan?" Ranma boasted as Ryoga heard a sound reminiscent of a cord snapping in the back of his mind.

"That's it!" He shouted, charging at the girl with a fist cocked back. He didn't get very far in his charge, as he soon had a strange feeling ran through him, stumbling to a halt. He turned, staring in the direction the strange feeling was coming from.

He wasn't the only one who felt it, because Ranma also was staring in the same direction.

"Give me Raising Heart. Now!" Ryoga demanded, holding out his hand once more. He had far more important things to do than argue with this painfully annoying girl about ownership of Raising Heart.

"No way, you haven't beaten me yet." Ranma said, turning her attention back to Ryoga. This probably meant the feeling she had gotten was a sign of another Jewel Beast.

"There's no time for that!" Ryoga protested, turning towards the girl as well.

"Alright, how about a new contest? First one to seal the beast wins!" Ranma yelled, before running and jumping off the roof, and onto the roof of the next building closer to where the feeling was coming from.

"Hey! That's no fair! You have Raising Heart!" The boy yelled after her, before following suit.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

He was angry. He was very angry. He shook with rage just from glancing at the grotesque pictures people drew of him. Those did not portray how he looked. Not in the slightest. If this is what they thought of him, their prayers would never be answered, so why would they bother? He was beautiful, how could they not notice?

Obviously it was because they didn't respect him. They drew those pictures just to mock him, make him look like an ugly beast. He would show them. Breaking the pictures wasn't good enough. He needed something more, something that would make those disrespectful people change their ways.

And if they only way was to incite fear into their hearts, then so be it.

The perfectly smooth gem in his mouth glowed brightly, and all seemed to become red.

The beast Shussemaru would have his vengeance.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ranma bounded up the steps towards what was probably a temple, if the wooden gateways above the steps said anything. Ryoga was close behind her, but she still had the advantage anyways. She had Raising Heart.

She finally made it to the top, and stared wide-eyed at the scene before her. A very large demonic looking horse was on a rampage, destroying every single part of the temple. Not only did it have evil looking red eyes, but it had the ugliest face Ranma had ever seen on a horse. Ever.

"What are you waiting for?" Ryoga questioned as he ran past, stopping closer to the angry monster. A rune circle soon appeared below him, circling slowly as he focused his magic. His hands moved, forming distinct gestures before he threw his hand out towards the monster. Glowing chains burst from the ground, wrapping around the monster at many points of its body before connecting back to the ground, forcing the monster flat.

As Ryoga charged towards the monster, his hands glowing with some kind of magic power, Ranma found herself staring in disbelief. Jeez, he was kicking ass this time. If she didn't hurry up, he'd win!

"Alright, here we go!" Ranma announced, pulling out Raising Heart and holding it above her head as she prepared to recite the speech.

...only she couldn't remember it at all.

"Hey, what was the activation thing again?" Ranma asked, only to hear Ryoga scoff. The horse broke free of the chains and took a swipe at him, earning a charged punch across the face for its troubles.

"Like I'd tell you!" Ryoga replied, turning his attention back to the horse as it attacked again, a barrier appearing between them and stopping the attack cold.

"No fair! You can use magic without this thing! How am I supposed to seal that monster without transforming?" Ranma asked, ducking as the horse was hurled over her head and started tumbling down the stairs.

"Not my problem! I'll be taking Raising Heart back when I'm done!" Ryoga said in passing, heading down the stairs after the beast.

"Uh...um...something about waves...and the sky...I think...What was it?" Ranma muttered, wracking her brain for that overly complicated chant from the day before.

"Er...Blah blah blah, Raising Heart, Set up!" Ranma cried out, holding the jewel over her head.

**"Standby Ready. Set up."** Ryoga stopped his assault briefly and turned, watching as Ranma's body flashed and the barrier jacket replaced her clothes, followed by Raising Heart transforming into the spear she had wielded the day before.

"What? That actually worked?" He muttered in disbelief. Distracted by this turn of events, he wasn't able to put up a barrier in time as the Jewel Beast charged him, blocking to the best of his ability as it threw him from the stairway.

"Tough luck, Ryoga! It's wide open now!" Ranma smirked, spinning her spear around as she charged down the stairs. The horse bellowed in anger, charging up at her at ramming speed.

Ranma jumped into the air towards the approaching beast, spinning as she slashed the spear across its face. The kick that was going to follow completely missed however, her dress billowing in the wind from her maneuver throwing off her aim. The jewel beast roared in pain, opening its jaws wide and sinking them into the fabric of Ranma's skirt, wrenching its head side to side in the process.

"Eh?" Ranma muttered eloquently as she was violently shaken, the skirt surprisingly not tearing from the poor treatment, "Let go!"

Ryoga collected himself and quickly made it back to the scene, stopping in his tracks as he saw the horse flinging Ranma about like a hyperactive dog playing with a chew toy.

He could barely contain his laughter, and was soon on the ground with tears in his eyes.

"Shut up! I'll kill you!" Ranma screamed, red in the face as she repeatedly smacked the Jewel beast with her spear in some attempt to get it to let go. Finally it roared once again, opening its mouth in the process and sending Ranma careening towards a tree.

"Oh...oh man...ha ha..." Ryoga slowly got to his feet, wiping the tears from his eyes as the horse turned around to face him. It reared up on its back legs and roared once more before charging forward, only to smash into Ryoga's barrier.

"Ready to give me Raising Heart back now?" He yelled, holding out one hand towards his barrier to keep the horse at bay. His other hand went through a few intricate gestures, before chains appeared once again out of the ground to tie up the monster.

"Guh...dumb skirt..." Ranma groaned, using Raising Heart to return to her feet. It was more of a hindrance than she had originally thought to fight in a skirt. If only she had her dogi, this would be cake.

**"Barrier Jacket; Skirmish Mode."**

The uniform she was wearing was engulfed in a bright light, shining brightly as her skirt shifted down her legs and her coat changed shape. The light dispersed suddenly, revealing Ranma to be wearing a different outfit altogether. Though it was similar in coloration, white with red trim, and identical designs, it was completely unlike her uniform, instead taking the shape of a dogi.

"Eh?" Ranma muttered, looking down at her new outfit. The most notable difference was that her skirt had been replaced by a pair of loose pants, the triangular designs that used to adorn the hem now climbing up each pant leg. She grinned as she clenched her fists, experimenting with a few punches with her free hand and multiple spinning kicks, happy with the way the outfit allowed her to move.

Odd, she felt a little faster than before.

**"Let's go, My Master."** Raising Heart intoned, to which Ranma responded with a grin. It didn't seem to take more than a single step to reach the chained beast, the world blurring around her as she smashed into the thing with a vicious kick. Ryoga's chains strained to keep it in place and snapped from the impact, letting the horse lift from the stairs and fly over the opposite side.

"What the..." Ryoga muttered, watching as Ranma seemed to float in mid air as she landed from the kick, her new Barrier Jacket rustling from the self induced wind.

'She can even change her Barrier Jacket?' Ryoga thought, both marveling and envious of Ranma's natural talent. She had only had the device for a day, at she was already far better using it than he was.

"What's wrong, Ryoga? If you just stand there, I'm gonna win!" Ranma remarked with a grin, Ryoga just grinned back, clenching his fists a bit.

"Not a chance." As if signaled, they both flew from the stairs in tandem, charging at the recovering Jewel Beast with determination. They leapt into the air, rising above the monster's head before gravity pulled them down, each aiming for one its eyes. The monster horse let a loud whinny of pain as both of its large, ugly eyes were drop kicked and shook his head with rage.

How could two children manage to keep him, the great beast Shussemaru, on the ropes? He was the one who was supposed to be getting his vengeance on those who wronged him. Unfortunately for the horse, they didn't let up. The two struck with all the force of a hurricane, blow after blow from the both of them raining down. It barely had time to react.

It lashed out with its large hooves at the one who was trying to attack its legs, only to find its attack stopped dead by some sort of wall. Putting so much energy into the strike set it off balance and it fell onto its side, still trying to destroy that barrier that had blocked him.

It growled maddeningly as it felt itself once again constrained by chains wrapping around its fallen body, and it no longer had the leverage to break them. It gnashed and roared in anger, watching as the one with the red hair suddenly leapt through the air, twirling that infernal spear as the other one mirrored her jump exactly. The chains wouldn't budge as he struggled, roaring out again as the girl descended.

"Ha!" Ranma shouted, thrusting her spear down into the exposed back of the beast. Sparks flew from its metallic skin, but she failed to penetrate, her blow not quite strong enough.

"Take this!" However, it didn't matter, as seconds later Ryoga completed his jump by landing on the back of her spear, driving its length into the creature with his feet as the tip finally broke through, earning a roar of pain as her weapon pierced.

"Now, Ranma!" Ryoga cried out, jumping off the spear as he concentrated on his magic.

"Right!" Ranma shouted out, thrusting the spear into the beast's back some more.

**"Sealing Mode, Set Up."** Raising Heart's said, the haft extending to reveal the three slots again, from which the glowing wings extended. The beast roared again, the Roman Numerals 'XVI' appearing on its head.

"Ethereal echo, become light!" Ryoga chanted, thrusting his hand out towards the beast as his chains glowed brighter, a magic circle coming into existence under the beast. At the same time, ribbons of light extended from Raising Heart's core, wrapping around the Jewel beast tightly.

**"Standby, Ready."**

"Jewel Seed Serial Sixteen!" Ranma added, as her ribbons and Ryoga's chains both began glowing brightly.

"SEAL!" They both cried out in unison, the light becoming even brighter.

**"Sealing."** Raising Heart stated. For its part, the horse managed to whimper as the final blow came. Ranma leapt off the beast's back as its body shone before the monstrous appearance faded away, leaving behind a single jewel and a horse, which slowly limped away in defeat.

"Wow, that horse didn't get any prettier," Ranma muttered, letting the small jewel enter Raising Heart's core, just like the one before.

**"Receipt No. XVI."** Raising Heart's core blinked before Ranma's transformation once again faded away, leaving her standing in her normal clothes once more, holding the small Jewel between two fingers.

"Well, I guess that means I win!" Ranma said with a grin, tossing Raising Heart into the air and catching it before returning it to her necklace. Ryoga's eye twitched in response.

"What? How do you figure that? We both sealed it." Ryoga complained.

"The jewel was absorbed into my Raising Heart, so that means I win!" Ranma said simply, still grinning her cocky grin, "Tough luck, pork butt."

Ryoga growled at the girl for a moment before reigning in his anger. He didn't murder girls, no matter how much they deserved it. He was taught better than that.

"We make a pretty good team, though." Ranma suddenly said, interrupting Ryoga's murderous thoughts.

"As much as I hate to admit it, you're right," Ryoga said with a sigh, crossing his arms, "Things went a lot smoother with your help."

"See, you need my help," Ranma said, looking at Ryoga's grim expression closely and grinning as he seemed to relent to her point, though he didn't say it out loud.

"Now admit that I won," She added, her grin becoming a wide smile.

"What? No!" He snapped.

"Admit it! I won! Say that I won!" Ranma demanded, getting in Ryoga's face as he took a few steps back.

"I won't!" He insisted just as vehemently.

"Say it!" She said, smiling like a crazy person as Ryoga suddenly took off.

"Never!" He shot back at her, looking over his shoulder to see the girl in hot pursuit. Despite how annoying she was, he couldn't help but smile a bit at her antics.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

School was as dull as it always was, and Ranma couldn't help but stare out the window and think about the events of the past week. She had managed to help Ryoga gather six jewel seeds over the past few days and was beginning to feel worse for wear. Trying to balance training with Pops, school, jewel seed hunting, and magical training with Ryoga was taking a lot out of her. It was all getting very tiring. Her training with her father was getting especially tedious now that he acted like he was an escaped convict, even though he had only escaped from a veterinarian's office. Sheesh, he could be a big wuss sometimes.

_'Hey, Ryoga, how did the jewel seeds get here in the first place?'_ Ranma asked over their telepathic link. He still hadn't explained anything about the jewels besides saying that he needed to find them to make up for his mistake.

_'This city is a maze! How do you find anything around here?'_ Ryoga complained, and Ranma had to resist the urge to groan.

_'Why is your directional sense so terrible Ryoga?'_ Ranma changed subjects. Ryoga didn't tend to stick around her home when they were done for the day, instead opting to wandering around town aimlessly for some reason. 'Aimlessly' being the key word there, as he would get lost before he even reached the door.

_'I...I don't want to talk about it.'_ Came Ryoga's hesitant reply, 'This town has too many taco stands. They're everywhere.'

_'Oh come on, I've got nothing better to do. Out with it!'_ Ranma replied, ignoring his attempt to change the subject.

_'Aren't you in school?'_ He asked, evading the question again.

_'Exactly, nothing better to do.'_ Ranma responded, as if it were obvious.

_'No. Pay attention to your class.'_ Ryoga stated, completely ending any further discussion. It wasn't the first time that happened either.

"Hey Ranma!" A voice yelled, shocking her out of her thoughts. Ranma turned her head nervously, seeing both Yuka and Sayuri looking at her oddly. Apparently it was break, and she hadn't realized it.

"Were you zoning out or something? We called you a few times and you just continued staring into space." Yuka said curiously.

"Um...Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking about stuff. That's all." Ranma laughed nervously, hoping they wouldn't pry anymore. The two girls shared a glance with each other, both looking unsure, before shrugging.

"Well, anyway, I'm having a tea party after school, if you want to come. We haven't been able to hang out since you picked up Ryoga from the vet's, so I thought we could catch up." The darker haired girl said, smiling.

"Uh, Yeah, sure. I think I can come." Ranma responded, thinking if she had anything else to do that day. Well, nothing besides what was becoming normal.

"Okay! Bring Ryoga too, I want to see how he's doing." Sayuri smiled wider, before she and Yuka both went back to their seats for the next class to start.

_'Hey pork butt, we have somewhere we need to go today, you better be someplace where I can find you!'_ She grinned mischievously when she heard the growl of anger from the other end. He was just too easy to mess with.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

Ranma marveled a bit as she walked through Sayuri's house, taking it all in. It wasn't exactly a mansion, but it was so much larger than her apartment, and it made her a little jealous. She sighed dejectedly, feeling slightly out of place, until a voice in her head shook her out of it.

"Ranma!" Yuka and Sayuri called out, getting up from their seats. A sudden gust of wind blew into Ranma's face, and she covered her eyes reflexively. She immediately realized that the weight on her shoulder was gone, and looked over to see Yuka hugging the poor pig tightly.

_'Save me!'_ Ryoga's voice called out, only causing Ranma to grin wider as she watched the pig struggle against the light-haired girl's unbreakable hug.

Ranma walked over to one of the chairs at the table and sat down in it, relaxing. It was something she hadn't done in a while, and school didn't count. Soon enough, Sayuri's mother walked onto the porch, carrying a tray with tea and cookies, and placed it down on the table.

"Sayuri, it's the kittens' dinner time, would you mind helping me get it ready?" She asked kindly, smiling all the while. The girl in question nodded and followed the older woman into another part of the house.

"So Ranma," Yuka began, sitting back down in her seat, still hugging Ryoga to her, "Is there anything going on you want to tell us about?" Ranma grinned nervously, and Ryoga paused in his struggling slightly, before continuing to try and break free.

"Nope, nothing. Why do you ask?" Ranma questioned back. She didn't like at all where this conversation was going.

"Well, you've been out of it lately. You seem to be getting more tired every day we see you and-" Any further conversation was ended by the ringing of a bell. Ranma blinked slightly, as everything became silent for a few seconds, and then came the meows. A stampede of kittens burst onto the porch, mewing in hunger. Yuka seemed so caught off guard that her grip on the pig lessened enough so he could escape, and he took full advantage of the opening. He jumped out of the girl's grasp, bounding across the table before leaping up onto Ranma's head.

Ranma laughed at her friend's look of confusion, and stopped abruptly when a familiar yet strange feeling suddenly appeared.

_'You feel that?'_ she asked Ryoga over their telepathic link.

_'Yeah, and it's close too. We can't get anyone else involved, so follow my lead.'_ he replied, jumping off Ranma's head and sprinting outside towards the source of the strange feeling.

"Ryoga!" Ranma called after him, getting up from her seat, trying to avoid stepping on any of the kittens. Sayuri wouldn't be happy if she hurt any of them.

"I'll get him, don't worry about it," she told Yuka, in hopes that she wouldn't follow. As she ran towards the source of the magical burst, she pulled Raising Heart out from under her shirt, preparing for the transformation. She wasn't prepared for what greeted her, however.

"Meow." The beast boomed, causing Ranma to falter and nearly drop Raising Heart.

"Eh?" She blurted upon seeing the next Jewel Beast, barely believing her eyes. "It's...It's a giant kitten!"

"...ah..." Ryoga agreed, staring up at the thing in surprise. He shook his head however, standing up on his back legs and holding out his front hooves in concentration. He glowed briefly before a dark sphere seemed to spread out from his body, quickly enveloping the entire area and giving the surroundings a strange tint.

"What was that?" Ranma asked, watching the Kitten stomp around without a care in the world. It didn't seem to be as angry as the last six Jewel Beasts, which was a plus.

"A barrier. It'll keep anyone from interfering. Hurry up and seal it while it's not paying attention." Ryoga replied, falling back to all fours. Finally, a Jewel that would actually be easy to take. It was about time.

"Right, Raising Heart-" Ranma began, holding the jewel in the air.

**"Photon Lancer."** Ranma blinked at the robotic male voice, wondering briefly if Raising Heart could change gender when a massive bolt of magical energy sailed past her head, smashing into the giant kitten. It cried out in pain as electrical energy crawled across its body, being knocked onto its side by the blow.

"What?" Ryoga muttered, turning to look for the source, "Another mage?"

"I thought you said nobody could interfere!" Ranma muttered, turning as well. It didn't take long to find the source of the attack, as her eyes locked onto the figure of a young girl standing on a nearby tree branch, wearing strange clothes and holding a weapon that looked like a bizarre axe. It reminded her of Raising Heart.

"I didn't think another mage would show up!" Ryoga defended, backing up a few steps as the new girl's eyes turned to them.

"You're the other one, aren't you? The mage going after the Lost Logia," she said, leaping down from the tree branch and approaching with a determined look on her face.

'Lost Logia? She's from my world...' Ryoga thought, taking another step back. He didn't think any other mages from Mid-Childa would be after the Jewel Seeds. Damn, if only he'd been faster in collecting them.

"I don't know what you're talking about, I never heard of no logera or whatever." Ranma replied, instinctively falling into a stance as the girl approached.

"Bardiche," The girl said, pointing her weapon at Ranma with a cruel smirk on her face.

**"Yes sir."** the weapon replied, electricity crackling along its edge as an orb of magic began to form in front of it.

"This is your only warning: Hand them over or die painfully." She warned, a serious look in her eyes as her magic continued to grow.

_'Ranma, Transform!'_ Ryoga commanded.

_'Like I need you to tell me that!'_ Ranma replied, holding out the small jewel.

"Raising Heart, Set up!" Ranma cried out as the other girl grimaced.

"You had your chance! Bardiche, Photon Lancer!" She shouted, bracing her weapon.

**"Standby Ready. Set up."** Raising Heart stated.

**"Photon Lancer, Full Auto Fire."** Bardiche added.

(-)(-)(-)(-)

Genma grumbled a bit to himself as he walked through town, eyes darting back and forth to make sure he wasn't being followed. You could never be sure in this town. The police were crazy, the vets were crazy, maybe everybody was crazy? That man buying a newspaper could be a grandmaster of a lost art of martial arts revolving around the wielding of spoons as deadly weapons. Who could tell anymore?

As Genma approached his target, moving swiftly from cover to cover despite the odd looks this earned him from passersby, he noticed an odd shop next to the one he was moving towards that caught his eye. It seemed to be selling martial arts equipment, which wasn't the kind of thing he usually came across.

Curious, he changed direction, rolling through the door until he came to a stop next to a stand filled with random books, his impact displacing several of them and knocking them on the floor. The cashier looked at him strangely, but Genma paid him no mind, instead quickly scoping out what the store had to offer.

Seemed like a sports store that catered to gyms and such, selling simple weights and accessories. Not as interesting as he hoped. Damn, what a waste of time.

"I better head next door before the cops show up..." Genma muttered, getting to his feet. He paused momentarily, however, his eye catching on one of the books that now laid on the floor around him, the words 'Unstoppable Secret Technique' emblazoned across the front, followed by a '12 easy steps to becoming unbeatable' and another blurb declaring that it was 'guaranteed.'

"Hmm..." Genma hmmed, picking up the book and opening to the inner cover, "Neko-Ken, eh?"

(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)(-)

To Be Continued

The Authors' Notes:

Ryo: And that's revised chapter 2. We toned down the comedy a little and continued with some of the changes made in the first chapter, but for the most part, this chapter was fine. Only a few scenes have been majorly changed. From here on out, things start taking a downward turn, but I doubt we'll remove the comedy entirely.

JSB: Nothing much new here. Fate replacement in next chapter. Prepare to be surprised. And yeah, we will have some points of comedy, since I don't think we can write this whole story without some humour to keep us going. It's just going to be primarily...dark.

Brought to you by the combined efforts of:

Ryo-Wolf & JSB.


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